To analyse and study the epidemiology of COVID-19 cases reported in the State, the Health Department has set up a six-member committee headed by public health expert M.K. Sudarshan. It will study the Centre’s guidelines on hotspots and come out with a data-driven action plan and suggest interventions.
According to a notification issued by Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education), the committee has been asked to ascertain how different patients got infected and to suggest administrative measures to break the chain and maintain social distancing.
The committee, comprising public health experts and epidemiologists — Giridhar Babu from Public Health Foundation, V. Ravi/Anita from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Pradeep/Gururaj from NIMHANS, K. Ravi/Shashi Bhushan from Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, and B.G. Prakash, State Joint Director (Communicable Diseases) — will also analyse the treatment given to patients and suggest changes required.
Dr. V. Ravi told The Hindu that there was a need for each State to have its own committee as the spread of the disease and trends varied. “As of now, our hotspots have been identified based on the Centre’s analysis. But there is a need to analyse the trends and be prepared to handle any outbreak-like situation in districts that remain free of the infection so far,” he said. “We will study the clinical manifestation of every case and, using data, predict future trends. Based on this, further interventions on treatment and management strategies can be planned.”
Six discharged
Meanwhile, 15 new positive cases, including four children, were detected on Monday, taking the State total to 247. These include the eight who died and the 60 persons discharged. Six were discharged on Monday.
The new cases include three each from Mandya and Belagavi, four from Hubballi- Dharwad, including three children, two from Bidar, and one each from Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, and Bagalkot. Except for one case of a 62-year-old from Bengaluru Urban, 13 persons have contact history with people who had travelled to Delhi. One has a history of travel to Delhi. The Bengaluru Urban person has been suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI).
Addressing persspersons, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar said Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday launched ‘CORONA Helpdesk’, in partnership with WhatsApp, for the latest updates and facts on COVID-19. People can use it by sending the text message “Hi” to 87509 71717. Facebook users can go to @KarnatakaVarthe.Official. For more information, visit www.co- vid19.karnataka.gov.in.
Quarantine extended
With some patients developing symptoms after the 14-day incubation period, the department has now increased the number of days that patients need to be quarantined to 28. After the first 14 days, the patients will be home quarantined for the next 14, the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar held a videoconference with associations of doctors of various specialities and called upon them to be prepared to tackle the situation in case of community transmission.
