Karnataka on Tuesday reported a record 10,453 new cases. The State also witnessed 136 fresh deaths.
As many as 6,628 persons were discharged on Tuesday taking the total number of recoveries to 4,76,378. Active cases continued to remain over lakh with 1,07,737. Of these, 815 patients are being monitored in the ICUs.
Bengaluru Urban saw a record spike with 4,868 cases, a new high, and 67 of the 136 deaths.
The number of tests conducted also rose, at 87,475 in 24 hours including 45,141 rapid antigen tests.
The State Government warned of stern action against people flouting mask wearing and social distancing rules.
Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, who on Tuesday reviewed the situation with members of the COVID-19 expert committee, said a directive on enforcement would be issued after a discussion with the Chief Minister.
Admitting that the pandemic has been on a high in the State in the past two months, the Minister said: “Despite awareness regarding the virus, people have been negligent and are not wearing masks. To combat this, the Government is keen on bringing stern rules against those who flout the social distancing rules in public. A detailed directive will be out in a few days.”
Experts had recommended that the State should restrict political and religious gatherings. “People were attending these gatherings in large numbers leading to the rapid spread of the virus. Permission will be given only for those events that are unavoidable and only 100 people will be allowed with prior permission from the district administration,” he said.
Giridhara R. Babu, technical advisory committee member, said the State should improve testing on a syndromic approach and initiate measures to reduce deaths. “More tests are vital to detect more cases and ensure that no case is missed out. Focus should be on reducing mortality,” he said.
The State is contemplating allowing relatives to visit patients for a short duration after following elaborate safety measures, said Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar.
He said this was being allowed in some States and will be in the interest of psychological helath of patients. “We will soon issue a directive in this regard,” he said.
Telangana’s COVID-19 cases were again in the 2,000s band, at 2,072 on Monday. Nine more patients died. Also, 54,308 people underwent tests.
There were 283 cases from Greater Hyderabad, 161 from Rangareddy, 160 from Medchal Malkajgiri, 139 from Nalgonda, 109 from Karimnagar, 92 from Khammam, and 85 from Warangal Urban.
From March 2 to September 28, a total of 29,40,642 samples were tested and 1,89,283 people tested positive for the coronavirus. Of the total cases, 29,477 are active cases, 1,58,690 have recovered, and 1,116 have died. The recovery rate in the State is 0.58%.
It took around 63 days for the percentage of COVID-19 patients due to co-morbidities to change in the media bulletin issued by the Telangana Health department.
The percentage of deaths due to COVID was 46.13% and due to co-morbidities is 53.87% every day after it was included in the bulletin from July 28. It remained unchanged from July 28 to September 27.
In the media bulletin issued on Tuesday based on statistics from Monday, the percentage of deaths due to COVID was 44.96%, and due to co-morbidities 55.04%.
33 deaths in Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh reported 6,190 new infections and 35 deaths on Tuesday, an official bulletin said. The tally has gone up to 6,87,351 and the death toll reached 5,780.With 9,836 new recoveries, the recovery rate crossed 90% for the first time and reached 90.51%. There were only 8.64% active cases as 59,435 patients are undergoing treatment currently. Death rate stands at 0.84% and the total number of recoveries was 6,22,136.
The test positivity rate for 68,429 samples was 9.05% and the overall positivity rate of 57.34 lakh tests, 11.99%. Tests per million went up to 1.07 lakh and the cases per million ratio were 12,872.
For the first time after many days, no district reported more than a 1,000 new cases. However, the two Godavari districts reported over 900 cases each. Also for the first time, four districts reported no fresh deaths.
The new cases and deaths were as follows: East Godavari (991 cases and 4 deaths), West Godavari (907 and 2), Chittoor (784 and 6), Prakasam (569 and 8), Nellore (432 and 2), Guntur (410 and 4), Krishna (398 and 0), Srikakulam (377 and 2), Vizianagaram (312 and 0), Kadapa (299 and 0), Visakhapatnam (291 and 3), Anantapur (276 and 4) and Kurnool (144 and 0).
The district tallies are as follows: East Godavari (96,191), West Godavari (66,243),Chittoor (60,933),Anantapur (56,795), Kurnool (55,942), Guntur (54,192), Nellore (51,920), Visakhapatnam (49,793), Prakasam (47,925), Kadapa (43,431), Srikakulam (39,256), Vizianagaram (34,853) and Krishna (26,982).
Recovery rate in Kurnool was highest at 96% and lowest in Prakasam at 79%.
Kerala records another spike
Kerala’s incidence stood at 7,354 cases on Tuesday, from 52,755 samples. The test positivity rate was high, at 13.9%.
The number of recoveries reported on the day was 3,420.
With total recoveries reported till date being 1,24,688, the number of active patients in the State at present is 61,791. Of 61,791 active patients, 389 were critically ill and being treated in ICUs and another 94 on ventilatory support.
The State added 22 deaths to the official list. Five fatalities were reported at Kannur, four at Malappuram, three each at Thrissur, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram and two each in Kottayam and Palakkad.
Again, 97% of new cases were locally acquired infections, with the source of infection remaining unknown in 672. Also, 130 healthcare workers were affected with 32 cases inKannur, 30 in Thiruvananthapuram and 24 in Kasaragod and the rest scattered across districts. Malappuram had 1,040 cases, Thiruvananthapuram 935, Ernakulam had 859, Kozhikode 837, Kollam 583, Alapuzha 524, Thrissur 484, Kasaragod 453, Kannur 432, Palakkad 374, Kottayam 336, Pathanamthitta 271, Wayanad 169 and Idukki 57.
Active cases in Thiruvananthapuram stood at 10,405 with Ernakulam having 7,084, Kozhikode 6,634, Kollam 5,307 and Malappuram 5,257. Except for Idukki and Wayanad, all other districts had over 2,000 active cases.
Tamil Nadu records 5,546 cases
With another 5,546 persons testing positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, the State’s tally of cases climbed to 5,91,943. The State recorded 70 more deaths, taking its toll to 9,453.
Of the fresh cases, Chennai accounted for 1,277, while Coimbatore reported 572 cases. The cases surged in Salem as 343 persons tested positive for COVID-19. Chengalpattu had 330 cases and Tiruvallur reported 279 cases. Nine districts recorded 100-plus cases. This included Thanjavur (186), Kancheepuram (159), Tiruppur (153) and The Nilgiris (149, of which three were imported cases).
A total of 5,501 persons, including 1,119 persons in Chennai, were discharged. Till date, a total of 5,36,209 persons were discharged in the State. As many as 46,281 persons were presently under treatment. This included 11,193 in Chennai and 5,156 in Coimbatore.
Of the 70 fatalities, 41 persons died in government hospitals. This included a 37-year-old man from Tiruvannamalai who had no co-morbidities and was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai with complaints of fever and cough for 10 days and difficulty in breathing for nine days on September 13. He died on September 28 due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia.
A 26-year-old woman with intellectual disability was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on September 18. Her swab returned positive for COVID-19 on September 19. She died on September 27 due to COVID-19 pneumonia and respiratory failure.
A 33-year-old man from Coimbatore died at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on September 27. He had diabetes and died due to bilateral broncho pneumonia and diabetic ketoacidosis.
Chennai accounted for 17 deaths. This took the city’s toll to 3,195. There were nine deaths in Salem and eight in Vellore and six in Chengalpattu.
A total of 85,997 samples were tested in the last 24 hours in the State. Till date, 72,67,122 samples, and a total of 70,50,820 individuals were tested. Two more private laboratories were approved in the State - Sri Muthukumaran Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, Chennai and Sri Samraj Labs, Kallakurichi. With this, there are a total of 66 government laboratories and 120 private testing facilities.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru bureaus)
