COVID-19 cases in Mysuru dropped to single digit for the first time on Saturday after a gap of several months, ever since the cases started to fall after the second wave early this year.
Nine persons tested positive on Saturday with 48 persons discharged the same day upon recovering from the infection. Zero deaths were reported on Saturday.
With the continuous fall in new infections and faster recovery, the active case tally has also dropped and stands at 235 as on Saturday. The test positivity rate on Saturday was 0.54 per cent with about 1,665 tests done.
Nanjangud, H.D. Kote and Mysuru taluks reported zero cases. Five cases have been reported in Mysuru city while one case each was reported in the remaining taluks of Hunsur, T. Narsipur, K.R. Nagar and Periyapatna.
The active cases are expected to hit zero soon as such cases have dropped to single digit in T. Narsipur, Nanjangud, Mysuru, K.R. Nagar and H.D. Kote. Hunsur and Periyapatna have 16 and 20 active cases respectively while the number stands at 186 in Mysuru city.
Speaking to The Hindu , District Health Officer K.S. Prasad said cases dropping to single digit has occurred after a long gap, and can be attributed to substantial decline in infection rate. The new infections are on the wane.
Dr. Prasad, however, said the tests have dropped below 2,000 a day with the fall in infection rate and people not coming for the tests. “Tests have come down because people are not coming to get tested. This is because of the drop in infection in the community. Earlier, the tests used to be more as people with symptoms coming for the tests,” he argued.
Dr. Prasad said the admissions in hospitals have also seen a substantial drop with lesser number of SARI and ILI cases. These cases were contributing largely to COVID-19 numbers and have come down noticeably, thereby bringing down the number of admissions in both government and private hospitals, he added.
As many as 123 have been home isolated in Mysuru while 72 are in government and 31 patients are admitted in private hospitals. There are zero cases in the COVID-19 Care Centres, and about nine cases in dedicated COVID-19 Healthcare Centres.
Meanwhile, as many as 29,000 people were vaccinated in Mysuru district on Saturday. After the festive season, people rushed to the vaccination centres to get the jab – first and second doses - expanding the vaccination coverage.
Dr. Prasad said 89-90 per cent of the eligible populations have received their first dose and 52 per cent have got their second dose in the district so far. The drive is on to reach the target.
The Department of Health is making all best efforts to expand the coverage of the second dose and reach the targeted numbers by December.
