The novel Coronavirus infection growth rate in Mysuru, which has the second highest number of cases in the State after Bengaluru, indicates a slowdown in new infections after a surge in cases early this month.
The number of active cases was dropping with the improvement in the recovery rate and the patients discharged from the hospital.
The pandemic scenario here was altogether different in early April when cases had peaked and infection rate was high with cases reported almost daily after the first confirmed case on March 26.
Since Thursday, only one case had been reported, taking the tally to 89. Till date, 38 patients had been discharged, including four on Saturday, squeezing the live cases to 51. The fall in new infections has brought much-needed relief to the district administration and healthcare professionals fighting the pandemic.
Importantly, the number of persons in quarantine whose numbers were in several hundreds till recently, had reduced to 813, with many completing the two-week isolation period. As on Saturday, 3,898 persons had completed the quarantine among 4,762 cases observed so far since the outbreak.
Also, the testing had been speeded up with the lab of MMCRI carrying out tests on about 300 samples daily. The staff at VRDL, the hi-tech virology lab here, was working in three shifts carrying out tests till 2 am almost every day. Out of 3,079 tests done so far, 2,990 samples had tested negative.
Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar on Sunday said 1,000 tests per million people were being carried out here and added that 3,000 tests had been done so far. “Once we get the bio-safety cabinet, the Mysuru lab will undertake more tests as the CSIR-CFTRI, Mysuru, which had provided testing machines earlier, has offered to help us to augment the tests further,” he said.
Mr Sankar said cases had not spiked like earlier when multiple cases used to be reported recurrently with most of them linked to the Jubilant Generics Limited in Nanjangud. “As we responded swiftly after the first case which was linked to Nanjangud, we could be able to contain the spread,” he said.
As a precaution, the primary contacts of the infected persons linked to the factory are once again undergoing the tests. Those who had tested negative too are being subjected to the tests. For better results, samples are being drawn after the 12th day of the quarantine.
Rapid Testing Kits
Mysuru was expecting the Rapid Testing Kits soon and the health teams had been oriented on the protocols to be followed for using the kits. “So far, we haven’t got the kits but we have been told that the kits are on the way,” said Mr Sankar.
More SARI cases
About 300 ‘SARI’ cases had been reported and only two cases had tested positive to COVID-19. However, samples of all the cases had been sent for the mandatory tests. “SARI cases used to be reported here even before the pandemic. Such cases are getting attention now because of COVID-19 and such patients are regularly being subjected to the testing,” the DC said.
