Covid-19: Harsh Vardhan advises caution in Karnataka's 6 worst-hit districts

With half-a-dozen districts in the state performing below par on the Covid-19 front, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday held a detailed review meeting with Health Minister K Sudhakar and state officials, flagging the needs to plug the gaps, particularly in those districts during the festival season and the winter that follows.

Vardhan expressed concerns over the trajectory of the disease in Bengaluru Urban, Mysuru, Ballari, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, and Belagavi, which have a high caseload, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.

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He also spoke to officials of the districts where the positive cases are increasing and the fatality rate is showing a rising trend.

Last week, the Union Health Ministry showed that Bengaluru Urban was the worst Covid-19 affected district in India as it accounted for 8.65% of the active cases. Independent analysis also listed Bengaluru Urban and Ballari among the 50 districts with maximum caseload cumulatively.

Vardhan asked the state to adopt wide-scale and high-visibility information, education and communication campaigns for the adoption of Covid-appropriate behaviour.

While the state officials listed the steps they were taking to stem the epidemic, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said a lot more needed to be done to bring down the parameters to pre-July levels.

Karnataka should aim at bringing the positivity level to less than 5% and must engage aggressively with all the stakeholders in those districts which had a fatality rate higher than the national average, he said.