Policy relaxations, increased testing add to Covid-19 surge in Karnataka

Karnataka’s Covid-19 outbreak appears to be getting worse but the government maintains that the rising cases are due to increased testing, even though experts said ill-advised policy relaxations are also to blame.

According to an expert, inflow of interstate travellers without scrutiny, scrapping of remaining restrictions and relaxing enforcement of mask and social distancing are contributing to the spike in cases.

Official data from the Department of Health and Family Welfare shows that the number of statewide cases have increased by 75.1% over a 30-day period. On Wednesday, the state saw its highest number of cases, 9,860 new infections, with Bengaluru Urban registering 3,420 cases.

Both the BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad and Dr C N Manjunath, the state nodal officer for testing, insisted that more testing is leading to a surge in cases.

“If we were still doing about 30,000 tests per day, our daily figures in the state would be in the 4,000 range,” Dr C N Manjunath said.

As per data, on days when the testing is less than 30,000, some 4,000 new cases are found.

On September 1, a record high of 83,670 tests were conducted. That day, 9,058 cases were announced.

However, Dr Manjunath admitted that the contributing factors driving the outbreak are still there: people coming into the state and reduced social distancing. He suggested that a policy of voluntary disclosures and self-isolation was the order of the day.

Meantime, it is not just the cases which have increased. In the last week of August, 279 people have officially died of the disease in the city, which is the highest weekly increase for that month.

Domino effect

One expert likened restrictions and surveillance relaxations to creating a domino effect. “Relaxing restrictions means more spread of the disease, which the state will have to address by further increasing its testing. Where does it end?” he asked.

The expert, who did not want to be named, pointed out that Bengaluru (which holds the majority of Covid-19 cases in Karnataka) has one of the worst positivity rates in the country. The data shows the positivity rate fluctuating wildly from as high as 26.89% percent to a low of 5.8% over the last 15 days.

The relaxations may also have sent a signal to the public that all is well, which has prompted more mask and social distancing violations, made worse by a decision to stop penalising violators.

In Bengaluru Urban, the Palike said that it scrapped its special programmes to catch violators. “It was hindering ongoing efforts in dealing with black spots, although marshals while on duty have the authority to fine violators,” said BBMP Chief Marshal Officer Rajbir Singh.

Consequently, registrations of violations fell from 533 on August 22 to zero on August 31. At its peak, on June 30, 3,323 violations had been registered.