Bengaluru door-to-door survey shows 2.3% ILI patients COVID-19 positive

More than 2 per cent of patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) in Bengaluru who were screened have tested positive for COVID-19. The data is based on an initial analysis by the state COVID-19 war room following a door-to-door survey for the disease across the state.

Out of 24.81 lakh households surveyed in Bengaluru Urban, 12,556 or 0.33 per cent people had fever, cold and flu symptoms. 3007 of these ILI patients were tested for COVID-19. Out of this, 69 persons or 2.3 per cent tested positive. “Very high ILI cases and high test positivity rate,” reads the official comments by the state COVID-19 war room.

Munish Moudgil, head of the state COVID-19 war room, said, "Most revealing is that while ILI Positivity rate across Karnakata has remained low, that in BBMP has gone up. You can see it has gone up from June 3. We are tracking Positivity Rate (positive cases found per 100 tests) for ILI across districts. ILI Positivity Rate increase (where no other history or source of infection is traceable) means spread by someone who was not tracked (who could have been an Inter State Arrival or a positive case whose contact the present new patient is)."

The door-to-door survey, started on April 23, to identify ILI and other vulnerable patients and to contain the spread of COVID-19, has covered 89 per cent of households in the state as on June 13. While 1.75 lakh people had fever, cold and flu symptoms, only 44,000 or 25 per cent were tested for COVID-19. Out of this only 123 or 0.3 per cent people tested positive for COVID-19 state-wide.

The war room also revealed that eight districts- Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Mandya, Raichur, Mysuru, Shivamogga,Ramanagara and Gadag need to carryout more tests among ILI patients due to low testing rate for this category of patients.

The war room also released the test positivity rate for tests conducted since June 1. In Bengaluru Urban, this analysis revealed that out of 2149 primary contacts tested, 5.3 per cent (113) tested positive. 0.7 per cent (89) out of 13,649 domestic travellers, pregnant women and asymptomatic cases tested positive, 13 (1.3%) out of 1014 SARI patients tested positive, 61 (5.6%) out of 1096 ILI patients tested positive, and in all categories from June 1 to June 14, 292 (1.1%) out of 27,285 patients in Bengaluru Urban tested positive.