No Covid-19 community spread in Karnataka, govt tells Central team

Karnataka on Tuesday told a Central team that there was no instance of community spread of Covid-19 in the state.

“Let me make it clear: There’s no community spread. We’re in between stages two and three. We told the Central team this. They’ve asked us to ensure we don’t get into the third stage,” Health & Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu told reporters.

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The Central team, comprising Union Health Ministry’s Additional Secretary Arti Ahuja and Directorate General of Health Services Director (emergency medical response) Dr P Ravindran, held talks with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar, Sriramulu and other officials on Karnataka’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Their opinion was that more tests need to be done in containment zones,” Sriramulu said. “They said Karnataka had done well so far and that we need to do better going forward.”

The government’s claim that there was no community spread of Covid-19 comes at a time when the number of positive cases has skyrocketed in the state, especially in Bengaluru. Till date, Karnataka has seen 25,317 positive Covid-19 cases of whom 10,527 people have recovered. There are 14,385 active cases, with 8,860 of them in Bengaluru Urban district.

According to an analysis by Karnataka’s Covid-19 War Room, of the 25,317 cases, the source of transmission in 13,019 cases is still under investigation.