Bengaluru
The number of new Covid cases dipped sharply to 16,604 in Karnataka on Monday even as Covid deaths and Case Fatality Rate (CFR) remained high at 411 and 2.47 per cent respectively. For over 12 days, new cases in Bengaluru remained below 10K; it was 3,392 on Monday.
With decline in Covid cases in Bengaluru, the city has started heaving a collective sigh of relief as demand for hospitalisation of infected patients has fallen.
BBMP (civic body) chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta was quoted in the media as saying that “From 10,000 enquiries our call centres used to receive, we get 2,000 a day. We faced a tidal surge, but it has gradually declined.” Nearly 30 Covid care centres set up by the government are largely vacant and not all need to be continued.
However, deaths are a concern. In just 26 days of May, Karnataka reported nearly as many Covid-19 deaths as it did in the whole of 2020 at a daily average of 444.
An analysis of data showed that until May 31, nearly 13,500 deaths were reported, while a total 12,090 deaths were reported between March and December last year.
High rate of deaths has been reported in Bengaluru and the districts of Tumakuru, Hassana, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad and Belagavi.
