Bengaluru reports Covid death; 301 new cases in state

Bengaluru recorded a Covid-19 fatality after a long gap and the lion's share of infections that are increasing at twice the speed of recoveries.

A 72-year-old woman, who reported fever and cough and was subsequently diagnosed with having Influenza-Like Illness (ILI), is confirmed to have died of Covid-19, the health bulletin said on Sunday.

The woman was admitted to a private hospital on May 28 and she died the next day.

The tech hub continues to account for the majority of new Covid-19 cases in Karnataka. Of the 301 fresh cases reported on June 4, Bengaluru Urban alone saw 291 cases.

Worryingly, new cases are increasing at double the speed of recoveries. There were only 146 fresh discharges, including 142 in Bengaluru Urban.

This means the number of active cases (patients who are yet to recover) is rising steadily. The bulletin says as much.

Karnataka now has 2,414 active cases of Covid-19. Of them, 2,294 are in Bengaluru Urban alone.

The rising caseload had prompted the Union Health Ministry to write to Karnataka on June 3, asking the state to increase vigil and take pre-emptive action to control any emerging spread of the disease.

Bengaluru has 12 active Covid clusters, of which only one has more than five cases.

On a positive note, only 17 people living within BBMP limits are in hospital and only four are in ICU.

The positivity rate (the percentage of samples testing positive) for June 4 was 1.4%. The weekly positivity rate, however, is a tad lower at 1.33%. The weekly fatality rate is even lower at 0.11%.

‘Backlog cases’

Dr K V Thrilok Chandra, Special Commissioner (Health), BBMP, attributed the rise to a combination of “backlog cases” and a heightened vigil on ILI and SARI cases.

Citing data from last month, he said the average number of daily cases in the first 15 days was 120. For the last 10 days, this number is 170.

Occasionally, due to data backlog from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), this number gets pushed beyond 200, he said.

Speaking of ILI and SARI, he said the civic body began monitoring the two categories over a month ago, much before the ministry’s advisory came.

According to him, the BBMP has asked private hospitals in the city to test all outpatients showing ILI/SARI symptoms for Covid-19.