India's Covid-19 tally tops 1 crore: How the virus ravaged Karnataka

Karnataka's Covid-19 tally has been declining for the past few weeks now, indicating that the worst-hit state after Maharashtra has managed to curb the spread of coronavirus. 

As the coronavirus infections in India top 1 crore, let's take a look at how Covid-19, which has claimed over 1.4 lakh people across India so far, ravaged the state. 

Karnataka reported its first positive case of Covid-19 on March 9. It has so far recorded 9.05 lakh positive cases of Covid-19 cases and nearly 12,000 people have lost their lives so far in the state due to the virus. 

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Since the outbreak, the number of Covid-19 cases in the state continued to rise till October when it recorded its peak. On October 10, the state reported 10,947 new Covid-19 cases in a day, the highest spike in Karnataka so far. Even as the state has been recording over 7,000 cases almost every day in September and October, there has been a consistent downfall in Covid-19 spike since November. The fall in Covid-19 spike marked a dip in the city’s Covid-19 compared to the pre-surge era of July, when only triple-digit spike was being reported. 

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In earlier days of the pandemic, the state took drastic measures to mitigate the spread of the disease even before the Centre announced the March 23 lockdown. The state government enforced social distancing and shut down all non-essential services by mid-March. All educational institutes were forced to shut down and examinations were postponed indefinitely. 

Karnataka also shut its southern borders with Kerala after the Kasargod district reported a high number of Covid-19 cases. As migrants from other states including Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, returned to Karnataka, the state witnessed a huge influx of cases. To tackle the surge, Karnataka imposed a 14-day quarantine mandatory for people entering from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Kerala.

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The government's move to shut down schools seems to have helped the state protect the young population in the state. According to government data, only 6.47 per cent to the total Covid-19 patients were under 19 years old. In Karnataka, mostly working professionals bore the brunt of the pandemic with over 40 per cent of the cases being reported among people between 20 years and 39 years.  

Senior citizens accounted for about 14 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases. 

Bengaluru city emerged as the worst-hit district in the state reporting over 3,80,247 infections. In addition to the several phases of nation-wide lockdowns and curbs, the city enforced a week-long lockdown in July in order to stop the rampant spread. However, despite the strict curbs, the city went on to report 52,106 cases in July. In the following months, the outbreak in the city got worse as it reported 74,696 cases in August, 1,02,458 in September, and 1,01,120 in October, according to BBMP data. November saw a respite with a significant fall in cases to 31,856. 

Other districts in the state also saw a surge in Covid-19 cases after lockdowns were eased and inter-state buses and trains services resumed. Mysuru (51,551), Ballari (38,564), Dakshina Kannada (32,444) are other districts with a high number of cases. 

Last month, the daily Covid-19 cases dropped below 2,500 consistently. Since the end of the month and through December, the spike in Covid-19 cases has remained below 2,000.