Source of infection in Bengaluru covid cases remains a mystery

The state continues to test more than 15,000 samples every day and has 9,406 active cases

Update: 2020-07-03 07:48 GMT
A medic wearing a PPE collects samples for COVID19 testing at kalasipalya police station in Bengaluru. PTI photo

Bengaluru's pride of COVID 19 management seems to be short-lived. The city which was lauded by none other than Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi who had asked other states to emulate the model is slowly losing its battle against COVID19. The city is churning out fresh cases and has recorded 889 cases out of 1502 cases across Karnataka.

While health department officials are confident of handling the fresh cases, the worry is that they are not able to establish the source of infections in more than 50 per cent of cases. Of the 1,502 cases, 967 cases are listed under the 'Contact Under Tracing' category (majority from Bengaluru),  which is a worrying factor for the health officials.

Till date, the IT hub of India has recorded 6,179 cases and in more than 50 per cent of the cases, officials have not been able to trace the source of infection yet.

Officials of the BBMP maintain that this is because the deadly virus caught them off guard and they were not expecting the sudden spurt and their successful methodology, that they used to trace the source of infection is no longer yielding positive results after the Unlock 1.0. Sources claim that once the SSLC exam gets over, there will be strict rules in place across the city.

Members of the COVID Task Force has suggested sealing borders of Bengaluru and prevent any entry and exit of people from other states for at least 2 weeks. They have pointed out that more than 5 lakh people visit Bengaluru every day for work, business and other purposes.

Many who reside in Kanakapura, Anekal, Hosur, Chikkaballapura, Doddaballapura, Mysuru, Hassan, Tumkur and other districts travel to and fro om a daily basis and their suggestion is to restrict them first, impose strict lockdown in Bengaluru and then bring the Corona rage under control.

Of the 30 districts, except Chamarajnagar, all the remaining 29 districts has recorded at least one case each. Karnataka recorded 19 deaths taking the total death tally to 272. Bengaluru recorded 3 deaths and the city's death toll touched 100 on Thursday.

On a positive note, the number of patients in the ICU which were at 292 on Wednesday came down to 161 on Thursday evening. The state continues to test more than 15,000 samples every day and has 9,406 active cases.

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