How 'model' Bengaluru lost ground against coronavirus pandemic

Bengaluru, June 29: Bengaluru, the tech capital, which has a population of over 1 crore has seen a sudden spurt in coronavirus cases, triggering a high alert in the state capital.

Though the Bengaluru city had fared better compared to metro cities with strict lockdown measures to contain the pandemic substantially, it now seems to be losing ground rapidly in the battle against the virus.

Casting a dark spell on the state's fight to contain the spread of COVID-19, Bengaluru reported 783 cases on Sunday alone, its highest-ever single-day spike.

The total number stood at 3,321 and 85 deaths on June 28, a massive increase from May 31 when it had just 386 confirmed cases.

What is particularly worrying is the fact that at least 25.92 per cent of total cases in Karnataka, are from Bengaluru alone.

The Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru doubled from 1,556 on June 23 to 3,419 cases on June 28, Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar K said.

The Minister assured that State government is taking measures to ensure that every Covid-19 patient gets the best treatment.

"Bengaluru had 1556 Covid-19 cases as on June 23 which doubled to 3419 cases as on June 28, which is 25.92 percent of total cases in Karnataka. State Govt is taking measures to ensure every Covid patient gets best treatment," said Dr Sudhakar K in a tweet.

The unusual surge could be the result of clearing of some backlog as two key government laboratories had to close down after employees tested positive. The state is likely to report high numbers for the next few days, as results of more than 11,500 samples are still awaited.

In May, the Central Government had recognised Bengaluru as a model city in Covid-19 management. The garden city took the cue from Kerala in contact tracing, which they had done during Nipah and Covid-19.

Bengaluru was appreciated on how the cases have been handled and the treatment methods adopted in ensuring that the graph did not rise, by using technology to the optimum.

India recorded 19,459 new coronavirus cases and 380 deaths in the last 24 hours. According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday, the total coronavirus cases in the country stand at 5,48,318 including 2,10,120 active cases, 3,21,723 cured/discharged/migrated and 16,475 deaths.