In the biggest spike in COVID-19 deaths on a single day, Karnataka recorded seven fatalities on Friday, including four from Bengaluru Urban. Although these four deaths occurred between 5 p.m. on Wednesday and 5 p.m. on Thursday, they were not recorded on Thursday’s health bulletin. Two deaths were from Kalaburagi while one was from Hassan.
With this, the toll in the State rose to 79, apart from two non-COVID deaths. The total number of positive cases touched 6,516, with 271 new cases recorded on Friday. Friday also saw the highest number of discharges, with 464 recoveries. With this, the total discharges hit 3,440, outnumbering the total active cases (2,995).
While all the patients who succumbed to the infection had comorbidities, the case of a 52-year-old man with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) from Bengaluru who did not have any other medical condition has raised concerns. The patient was admitted with complaints of breathlessness on June 10 and died on June 11.
The other three people who died in Bengaluru were two women aged between 49 and 61 years (both patients with Influenza-like Illness) and a 65-year-old SARI patient. All of them had comorbidities with diabetes and hypertension as a common factor.
While a 60-year-old man with SARI died in Hassan, two men with SARI, aged 48 and 53 years and who also had comorbidities, including chronic kidney disease, died in Kalaburagi on Wednesday.
Among the 271 new cases reported on Friday, 92 were inter-State passengers. With 97 cases, Ballari recorded the highest number of cases. As many as 85 of them were contacts of a previous patient while 10 were Maharashtra returnees.
Sero-surveillance
The sero-surveillance study jointly conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research, National Tuberculosis Institute, and Government of Karnataka in May in three districts revealed that 0.25% of the surveyed population in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi showed an evidence of past exposure to SARS COV-2 at the time of survey.
According to a statement from the Health Department, 400 samples each were tested in Chitradurga and Bengaluru, and 399 in Kalaburagi. Of these, one sample each tested positive in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi.
“The survey points out that measures taken during the lockdown were successful in keeping the transmission low and in preventing rapid spread of COVID-19. This implies that a large portion of the population must continue following precautionary measures as suggested by the government from time to time,” the statement added.
.jpg?w=600)
