COVID 3rd Wave: India on Edge as Active Cases Begin Trumping Recoveries in Various States
New cases outnumber recoveries in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Mizoram, Sikkim and the UT of Jammu and Kashmir
Ever since the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit India and left a trail of destruction across all areas of the country, experts have been warning of a possible third wave. The recent COVID statistics from the country are threatening to prove them right. The number of new cases in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Mizoram, Sikkim and the UT of Jammu and Kashmir has been trumping the number of recoveries for the past few days. While the difference is not huge in all these states, Karnataka and Kerala have become a true source of worry (if not, God help us).
Karnataka Daily Cases Covid 3rd Wave
The fear of the third wave of Coronavirus in the state of Karnataka might turn out to be real as the state for the second consecutive day recorded more new cases than the daily recoveries of Covid patients. What compounds the fear further is that the gap between the reported cases and Covid recoveries is also over 700. According to an Indian Express report, the total cases reported in the state on Thursday was 2052 whereas the number of recoveries on the same day was 1332. Since the mid of May as the second wave started petering out, the recoveries had been outnumbering the daily fresh cases but the pattern has reversed in the last 2 days with a huge margin.
Out of the total 2052 new cases reported on Thursday, the highest number was reported from Bengaluru Urban at 506 followed by 396 and 174 new cases in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi respectively. About 150 cases each were also reported from Mysuru and Hassan region of the state. A total of 35 Covid-19 related deaths were also recorded in the state on the same day with the highest toll of nine deaths in Bengaluru Urban followed by eight deaths in Dakshina Kannada. With the addition on Thursday, the total number of active cases in the state has swelled to 23,253. Taking cognisance of the rising trend of Coronavirus cases in the state capital, BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta has instructed officials in the city to step up testing, contact tracing and take additional precautionary measures to control the rising spread of the virus. The BBMP Commissioner also instructed officials to impose penalty on people who are violating the Covid-19 norms in the city at public places. Similar guidelines were also issued to enforce the Covid-19 guidelines at events like marriage ceremonies, parties among others.
Kerela Rise is Covid19 Cases
Along with Karnataka, the rise in Covid-19 cases in Kerala is posing a big challenge to the overstretched health system of the country. The state reported 22,056 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, its second consecutive over 20,000-caseload day, at a test positivity rate (TPR) of 11.2%, according to the health department’s daily bulletin. Kerala also reported 131 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 16,457.
On Tuesday, Kerala accounted for nearly 50% of total caseload on the day in the country (22,129 out of 42,498 cases) and its average test positivity rate (TPR) at 12.35% was almost four times the national average of 3%, according to the health department. In Kerala, which reported the first coronavirus disease case in the country in January last year, the second wave of the pandemic is showing no sign of abating in the last three months.
It is also the only state in the country to report over 20,000 cases in nearly two months, prompting the worried Union health ministry to ask it to ramp up its virus control measures. A team of leaders from the state unit of the Bharaitya Janata Party met Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday and urged him to prevail upon the state government to take proactive measures to contain the surge.
The intensity of surge can be gauged by comparing Covid-19 numbers with neighbouring states. Tamil Nadu logged 20,421 cases on June 6, the last time any Indian state crossed the 20,000-mark, but on Tuesday, the state reported only 1,767 cases. Another neighbouring state Karnataka, which also witnessed a high volume of cases in April-May, reported only 1,501 new cases on Tuesday with a TPR of 1.46%.
