Bagalakote: After a prolonged gap, the District is now again witnessing a steep rise in Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks.
There were hardly any Coronavirus cases until the third week of July in the District. In the span of just two weeks as many as 236 Covid cases have been reported in the region. With this the average daily testing positivity rate (TPR) has surged from 1 percent to 6 percent.
The Department of Health and Family Welfare is testing an average of 220 samples a day. Among them around 8 percent are being tested positive from the past one week. The overall positivity rate stands at 7 percent, based on the cases of the last two weeks, as per the data provided by the District Administration.
With over 8 percent TPR, Bagalkot has the second highest weekly TPR in the State after Dharawad, which has over 9 percent. The District has reported the TPR above the State average, where it is 5.49 percent.
According to the District Health Bulletin, “A total of 18 cases have been reported in the district on Tuesday August 9. Among the total cases reported 83 cases are active, wherein two are in hospital and remaining in home isolation. However, no deaths have been reported due to the virus from one month in the District.”
“In the last two weeks over 70 percent of the cases have been reported from the rural areas. Among the active cases 54 are from rural and 29 are from urban areas in the District. With 21 active cases, Badami reported the highest number of cases and Mudhol has the least number of cases as only five cases are active,” claimed District Health Bulletin.
Dr. Jayashree Emmi, District Health Officer (DHO), pointed out that, “The spike in Covid cases is nowhere connected to the fourth wave. Around 99 percent of cases reported in the last two weeks are asymptomatic and most of them have comorbidities.”
“The symptomatic patients are being treated at the hospital. The District Administration is making all the efforts to bring down the cases in the region. The main factor behind the spike in Covid cases in rural areas is because of not maintaining Covid protocols during the car festivals and fairs. Public should also support us by following the Covid guidelines like wearing masks and maintaining social distance,” appealed DHO Jayashree.
When questioned whether the State Government has given any target of testing samples every day, Dr Jayashree said that, “The Government has only stressed on maintaining Covid guidelines. It has neither given targets nor issued any guidelines regarding testing samples as of now. We are testing only those are either primary and secondary contacts of the infected. There is no need for the public to panic.”
