Even as a section of health experts are not ruling out a ‘second wave’, COVID-19 continued its slump in Mysuru with the number of positive cases reaching single digits twice in the last four days.
For the first time in the last 7-8 months, the number of positive cases dropped to single digits on March 6 when Mysuru reported 9 cases. Though 11 cases were reported the next day on March 7, the numbers were down to 7 on March 8. However, on March 9, the numbers went up to 56.
At its peak, COVID-19 positive cases in Mysuru would often be in the range of 600 to 800 on a number of days during September and October 2020. According to statistics, the number of positive cases had even breached the 1,000 mark on October 4, 2020.
The decline in the number of fresh cases had also brought the number of active cases down to 154, which is about the numbers that were prevailing during the first week of July 2020. This is a far cry from the 8,212 active cases prevailing in Mysuru on October 5, 2020.
Dip in testing
Even though the sharp slump in number of cases in Mysuru comes amid reports that the volume of testing too had been brought down, Health Department officials said the number of tests had to be reduced in view of the drop in infected cases.
The authorities had a target of testing 4,500 samples every day earlier this year, but the target was revised to 3,000 since the first week of February in view of the sharp decline in number of cases, according to Chidambara, the vector-borne diseases control officer of Mysuru, who is now monitoring COVID-19 testing and training in the district . Health personnel were reaching about 80% of the revised target, he said.
According to the media bulletin released by the District Surveillance Unit, Mysuru, the number of tests carried out on March 6 was 2,856; on March 7, was 2,125; and on March 8, was 1,183. On March 9, a total of 1,364 tests had been conducted.
Mysuru had so far reported a total of 54,265 positive cases while a total of 53,076 persons had been discharged. Mysuru also lost a total of 1,035 people to COVID-19 since its outbreak last year.
