Karnataka is one among the seven States that has contributed 70% of the total COVID-19 cases in the country. The State’s caseload which is 11.27% of the country’s tally is only behind Maharashtra that has contributed 21% and Andhra Pradesh at 13.5%.
In fact, over 60% (2,18,308) of the total 3,61,341 cases and nearly 57% (3,388) of the total 5,950 fatalities in the State have been reported in August alone. On a positive note, 1,99,679 patients have recovered and were discharged in August.
From 101 cases in March, the State witnessed a four-fold rise in April and subsequently a six-fold increase in May. From May to June there was a five-fold rise and then an eight-fold increase from June to July when the number of cases crossed one lakh and touched 1,08,873. As many as 2,068 deaths were reported this month. Since then, the numbers more than doubled and touched 2,18,308 in August while fatalities rose to 3,388.
Steady rise since June
The number of positive cases in the State have been rising steadily since the beginning of June and 80% of the total 10,118 positive cases reported as on June 24 were from June alone.
The State recorded the first 1,000 cases on May 15, which is two months and six days after the first case was detected on March 9. Thereafter, the cases doubled to 2,000 on May 24. The cases crossed the 10,000 mark on June 24. After May 24, the doubling rate reduced to eight days and subsequently to an average of three days.
The number of days taken to double in Karnataka now stands at 22, which is lesser than the national average of 28 days.
Karnataka is now the fourth State in the country to cross 3.5 lakh cases. In terms of Case Fatality Rate (CFR), the State is in the 9th position. While the State’s average CFR is 1.6%, the recovery rate is 70%.
Bengaluru highest
Bengaluru Urban that has been recording the highest number of cases since June is driving the pandemic in Karnataka. With an average of 2,500 cases a day in the last two months, the State capital now has 1,35,512 cases. This is 37.5% of the total caseload in the State.
C.N. Manjunath, nodal officer for labs and testing in the State’s COVID-19 task force, attributed the increasing caseload to aggressive and targeted testing across the State. “Our caseload is high because testing has been ramped up almost four times compared to June-July. All hidden cases and asymptomatic cases are getting detected,” he said.
“Many States in the north are not conducting enough tests because of which their case load is low. It gives an impression that those States have a better control of the pandemic but it is not so,” he added.
