Coronavirus: Bengaluru has a testing problem

The spectre of low testing rate is hanging over Bengaluru Urban as the tech hub is conducting fewer Covid-19 tests compared with other districts in the state, even as scores of returnees continue to arrive every day.

Consider this: Raichur, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Yadgir and Udupi have conducted more than 3,000 tests each per million people in the past 10 days, while the corresponding figure for Bengaluru Urban is 1,218.

Since the start of the outbreak, Bengaluru has conducted 3,170 tests per million.

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According to the state war room, only 7,000 returnees have arrived in the city, while 45,000 were approved to return. On the Seva Sindhu portal, 39,884 applications were filed to travel to the city from other states.

BBMP chief B H Anil Kumar said so far they have tested 33,070 samples for a population of 13 million, with a backlog of 2,000 samples over the past five days. The city is not lacking in labs. Out of the 63 Covid-19 testing facilities in the state, Bengaluru has 24 — the largest number in the state.

Kumar had reasons for the low testing rate.

“Tests have been less as Bengaluru is used as a transit point to travel to hinterland,” said Kumar. “Migrants from Bengaluru working in other states are very less compared to North Karnataka districts. People who have come back are mostly those who were stuck during holidays, professionals and students.”

Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner G N Shivamurthy did not respond to repeated calls from DH.

Commenting on the issue, a senior state war room official said, “Bengaluru’s tests per million are less because there are less number of cases and resultant contacts owing to low inter-state travel.”

But the Covid-19 picture is not so rosy for the tech hub. On Saturday, the city saw 33 new cases, the highest among all districts, with 10 of them being returnees, while 28 cases were registered on Monday. Among the 28 infections, as many as 22 had returned from Maharashtra, while one was from Rajasthan.

Interestingly, seven people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Shivamogga were travellers from Bengaluru Urban. One person who tested positive in Dharwad was also from Bengaluru Urban.

As on Monday, Bengaluru had the largest number of Covid-19 cases at 385. But when it comes to active cases, the city is at seventh position in the state with 136 cases.