BENGALURU: From reporting 1,033 new Covid-19 cases on January 1, to 21,390 cases on January 12, the pace of doubling in Karnataka has been swift.
The growth trajectory can be witnessed in the day-wise test positivity rate (TPR). Starting from as low as 1.60 per cent on January 3, the state reported 10.96 per cent day-wise TPR on Wednesday.
Bengaluru is no exception. From reporting day-wise TPR of 8.01 per cent on January 6, the number shot up to 15.71 per cent on January 10. The state tally now touches 30,99,519.
Of the day’s cases, 15,617 are from Bengaluru alone. Other districts leading the surge, with more than 1,000 active cases each, are Mysuru, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Tumakuru, Mandya and Hassan, in descending order of active cases.
There are 19,470 primary contacts and 18,491 secondary contacts to be tested and monitored, as per the state Covid-19 War Room data.
The health department announced the district-wise daily testing target, with 2,80,000 tests as the state target, including 1,12,000 Rapid Antigen Tests and 1,68,000 RT-PCR tests. The daily target for BBMP area is 1,00,000, and 20,000 for Bengaluru Urban.
“The primary contacts of the confirmed case must be tested, irrespective of whether it’s high or low-risk. It’s important that primary contacts remain at home for seven days, and testing be done at seven days even if asymptomatic, before coming out of quarantine. With such a high level of community transmission, I would sincerely urge primary contacts of a positive case to get themselves tested at seven days post-exposure (if no symptoms) or if with symptoms, ASAP. This is important to prevent the spread of infection to other family members and the community,” said Dr Swati Rajagopal, Consultant – Infectious Disease & Travel Medicine, Aster CMI Hospital.
There were 10 Covid-19 deaths reported in the day, which took the state toll to 38,389. This is the first time Karnataka has reported deaths in double digits, since October 31. However, the mortality rate reduced from 1.24 per cent to 1.23 per cent.
