No threat from Covid in Karnataka now, says Technical Advisory Committee

With the Covid situation remaining stable in January and February, state Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members say there’s no cause for concern now.

The number of daily tests in the state were increased to over 10,000 in January and now it has come down.

As per the February 13 Covid war room bulletin, daily test numbers over the previous week were in the range of 4,300-6,500 (except Sunday). A majority of tests and positive cases are still from Bengaluru Urban district.

TAC Chairman Dr M K Sudarshan says the low test numbers are not a cause of concern now. “Hospitalisations remain very low. Since January, only one death has been reported and this was an elderly lady from Koppal who already had TB,” he says, adding that the scenario is good in other metro cities as well.

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Besides, the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) has consistently remained below the benchmark of 2% since January. In fact, the seven-day average TPR has remained below 1% on all days except two — on February 12, it was 1.18%, and on January 15, it was 1.04%.

The number of daily positive cases have also remained low. The highest number of daily cases, 49, was reported on January 4.

As per the latest bulletin, the state only has 122 active cases, of which over 60% are from Bengaluru Urban. Other districts have active cases in single digits only, and 16 have none.

While the TAC’s last guidelines had recommended masking in indoor areas, Dr Sudarshan says this is only needed for people in high-risk groups now. “No masking is required outdoors, too, unless someone is severely coughing and sneezing.”

However, TAC is not considering a formal change of the guidelines as they are only advisory in nature. “If any new guideline comes from the Centre, we will review our guidelines locally.”

TAC member Dr C N Manjunath also says that Covid is not a threat now. “Now, there are only sporadic cases, and it’s become like common cold. But for people with comorbidities, any viral infection can be a problem, and it’s the same with Covid-19.”