Amid the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases, the daily testing is inching close to 10,000 in Mysuru district with the authorities stepping up RT-PCR tests from last week. This is part of their strategy for containing the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus. Following the advisory of “test, track, and treat”, the testing target has almost been doubled in Mysuru. Long queues are being seen outside testing centres in the district.
The test positivity rate in Mysuru jumped to 7.58% on Thursday with 695 people testing positive. One death was reported and as many as 150 patients were discharged.
Another cluster has been reported here with 12 testing positive at the Madhwa hostel of the National Institute of Engineering. The death toll rose to 2,431 with an 87-year-old male from Mandya, who was admitted with SARI symptoms at a private hospital here on January 10, succumbing to the infection.
ADVERTISEMENT
Another worrying factor is the rising infections among those aged between 0 and 17, especially in Mysuru city. The cases in this age group have been increasing from last week with the infection rate particularly high in the 11-17 age group. Eighty cases, including 36 alone in Mysuru city, were reported on Thursday. Two cases in the 0-5 age group, eight cases in the 6-10 age group, and 70 cases in the 11-17 age group were reported.
The number of daily cases breached 500 mark in Mysuru city on Thursday. Also, cases are seeing a surge even in the taluks, with double-digit cases being reported in five taluks which used to see cases in the single digit till recently. Out of 695 cases, 505 were reported from Mysuru city, 44 from Mysuru taluk, 30 from Nanjangud, 17 from Periyapatna, 53 from T. Narsipur, 21 from K.R. Nagar, and 16 from Hunsur.
T. Narsipur and Mysuru taluk have been reporting cluster outbreaks.
ADVERTISEMENT
The rising cases have driven hospitalisation figures up — 131 people have been admitted in government hospitals and 26 in private hospitals so far. As many as 2,610 are in home isolation and 49 in COVID-19 care centres. The active caseload is inching closer to 3,000-mark with a tally standing at 2,821 cases.