In Karnataka, winter is coming with a second wave of corona
With the government all but giving up, exhausted doctors report a change in symptoms
Bengaluru: With political attention in Karnataka diverted towards the drug scandal in the Kannada film industry, coronavirus incidence had crept up to the verge of a significant milestone. The corona count is just one day away from touching the half a million mark.
The epidemic has grown by over 9000 positive cases per day in the past 10 days. It took a mere 13 days to go from four lakh cases to five lakh.
On Thursday, Karnataka accounted for 9366 new positive cases while discharged cases counted about 7268 cases. The number of deaths on Thursday stood at 93, of which Bengaluru accounted for 34.
Though the government is harping on statistics like the total recovery rate (over 70 per cent) and the mortality rate (less than two per cent), the numbers are staggering. While the total number of active cases in Karnataka stands at 1.03 lakh, COVID-related deaths are up to 7629. At least three districts in the state have shown a death rate over 3 per cent.
Bengaluru is worst affected district in the state, accounting for over 40 per cent of the cases. So far, Bengaluru has has seen 1.84 lakh COVID-19 positive cases, of which over 41,053 are still active. There have been 2555 COVID-19 deaths in the city.
Doctors working with COVID-19 patients are fearing worse days ahead as the government has totally given up on preventive measures.
One doctor who works in the COVID ward of a hospital attached to a private medical college said people have to be more careful as the symptoms are changing.
"We feel that a second wave is coming. Most of the new patients are coming with symptoms of pneumonia. With the Bengaluru weather getting colder every day, pneumonia could be a bad sign,'' he said.
"The worst part is that we are running out of beds in hospitals. Most of these patients cannot be treated in quarantine centres. We need more oxygen supplies and medical staff working in COVID wards are exhausted. If the inflow of pneumonia patients increases, it will be impossible to handle,'' he added.