At 58,395, Karnataka records highest daily Covid discharges

Karnataka discharged its highest number of Covid-19 patients - 58,395 - on Tuesday.

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar tweeted that the number of discharges overshadowed the 30,309 cases which were reported in the state on Tuesday.

The highest number of discharges were made in Bengaluru Urban where 31,795 people were declared recovered.” he discharges prompted a decline in the state’s active caseload, which currently stands at 5,75,028.

However, experts expressed caution that large numbers of people were being discharged without properly ascertaining that they were free of the virus.

“There is no test or determination made about how many of these are technically Covid-free,” said one data analyst.

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Another source said that most Covid-19 patients in the second wave are being discharged within five to seven days to allow hospitals to accommodate new patients. “Some of these symptomatic patients still require oxygen support after discharge,” the source said.

Covid-19 cases in the state have seen a definite decline since May 9. Out of Tuesday’s tally, a mere 8,676 cases were in Bengaluru Urban, constituting a rate of only 29% of the total tally.

This is the city’s lowest percentage share of total cases since August 25, when the city had registered 2,294 cases out of 8,161 total cases reported that day - or a percentage share of 28.1%.

Other districts with high caseloads on Tuesday were 2,118 cases in Belagavi, 1,916 cases in Mysuru district, 1,799 cases in Ballari and 1,562 cases in Tumakuru.

Meantime, testing numbers continued their downward spiral. On Tuesday, only 93,247 tests were done in the state, which is the lowest figure after March 28, when 87,197 tests were done.

However, the number of death disclosures have not come down. Some 525 new fatalities were disclosed on Tuesday, which is the highest such disclosure in 11 days. While a small fraction of the fatalities are backlog cases from April, most of the deaths had happened in May.

Already, the month is shaping up to have the highest number of Covid-19 fatalities recorded so far in the entirety of the pandemic so far.