Experts have warned that in the coming days Karnataka’s capital city will start peaking with more Covid-19 positive cases next month. Bengaluru is rapidly catching up with Mumbai and Chennai in terms of the caseload. Only Pune added more cases than Bengaluru in the first 20 days of August.
While the city took 142 days to cross the 50,000 mark, the next 50,000 cases came in just 23 days. The figure stood at 1,07,875 as on Sunday with 2,126 new cases. Bengaluru alone accounts for 40% of all cases in Karnataka, which places a massive strain on healthcare workers, professionals and the system.
In comparison, Chennai’s figure is 33% of cases in TN, and Mumbai just 20% of Maharashtra’s caseload. Dr Giridhara Babu, member, ICMR, was quoted in the media as saying: “While the situation in other comparable cities, which began peaking earlier than Bengaluru may stabilise, it will take longer in Bengaluru as a major proportion of the population is still susceptible. Also, we are still unsure of the overall seroprevalence [the proportion of people who are immune or protected] in Bengaluru.”
Beginning next week, the government plans to conduct a serosurvey in all 30 districts, which will include all 8 zones in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, across Karnataka, there were 5,938 new COVID cases on Sunday and 68 deaths, taking the total tally to 2,77814 and 4,683 respectively. Positive cases are also on the rise in Ballari (406), Davanagere (268) and Shivamogga (246).
