COVID-19: Bengaluru’s daily tally crosses Mumbai, Chennai; new hot spot?

Bengaluru on Thursday reported 1,373 new COVID-19 cases, which is the city's biggest single-day spike so far, taking the overall tally to 13,882. Karnataka too saw its biggest daily spike in new coronavirus cases with 2,228 new cases. 

In the last 24 hours, Bengaluru (1,373) has reported an increased number of fresh positive COVID-19 cases, followed by Mumbai (1,268) and Chennai (1,216). Karnataka’s (2,228) fresh infections on Thursday was more than that of Delhi (2,187). 

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa while addressing media has admitted that the situation is going out of control, "The situation is going out of control in many districts. DC's of respective districts are working day and night, along with the police department. They will take a call." 

READ | Biggest Single Day Spike Of 2,228 COVID-19 Cases In Karnataka; 1,373 New Infections In Bengaluru

No community transmission, focus on to control mortality rate

The government has not accepted the possibility of community transmission in the city and state. They are still denying and claiming that it is still in stage 2, which is local transmission. The concentration of this government is on mortality rate and it claims that the state mortality rate is less than the national mortality rate.

Speaking to Republic Media network, Medical Education Minister, Dr Sudhakar, said, "Whenever you relax lockdown restrictions, a surge in cases tends to happen. But our main focus is to control the mortality rate in the city and state. Our mortality rate is the lowest in the country. In Bengaluru, it is just 1.27% and in the state, it is 1.51%. It is very low compared to the national mortality rate of 2.82%. I think there is no community spreading, but I don't deny the fact that it is in the stage of local transmission in the city."

The opposition has criticised the government and alleged that it was not prepared though they had enough time. Leaders seem more busy with their internal politics and there is a lot of corruption, where many top leaders want to make money out of this situation, they alleged.

"Government has not prepared itself for this, though they had a lot of time. Lack of leadership and lack of planning is evident. They thought Bengaluru will not get infected and thus they became complacent. There is no preparation, they are only doing this for publicity. So many of them are dying without getting beds," Bengaluru Congress MLA Dinesh Gundurao told Republic.

He alleged that there is a total collapse of the system and accountability has lost as leaders are changing everyday.  "There IS a lot of internal politics between Sudhakar vs R Ashok vs Sriramulu to handle the crisis. There is corruption, some of the top ministers are making money using the crisis," Rao added.

READ | Ministers Appointed As In-charge For Each Zone In Bengaluru For COVID Management

Surging number of infections

To tackle rising cases in the city, Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar designated eight senior officers for each zone. They include IAS officers in charge of BBMP zones — Tushar Girinath (East), Rajendra Kumar Kataria (West), P Manivanan (Bommanahalli), Naveen Raj Singh (Yelahanka), Munish Moudgil (South), N Manjula (Mahadevapura), PC Jaffer (Dasarahalli) and R Vishal (Rajarajeshwari Nagar).

In the last 10 days, the cases in the city are double than what it was in the month of June. On June 30, there were only 4,555 cases and as of July 9, it has increased to 13,882 cases. In the last 10 days, there is an increase of 9,327 cases in the city. Bengaluru South and West reported more cases in the last 10 days. 

• Bengaluru South- 26% COVID positive cases
• Bengaluru West- 25%
• Bengaluru East-  21%
• Bommanahalli Jurisdiction- 9%
• Rajarajeshwari Nagar Jurisdiction- 6%
• Yelhanka Jurisdiction- 6%
• Mahadevapura Jurisdiction- 5%
• Dasarahalli Jurisdiction- 2%

(PTI Photo for representation)

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