The number of active COVID-19 cases in the third wave in Karnataka fell below two lakh mark on February 1 after hitting a peak of 3,62,487 cases on January 24. While the State had 1,97,725 active cases on February 1, the number further reduced to 1,77,244 on February 2 (Wednesday).
Active cases, which have been consistently declining since September 2021, started rising from the end of December when the third wave began in the State. The number of active cases breached the 20,000 mark on January 6, 2022, for the first time since August 15, 2021.
However, active cases started falling rapidly in the last one week. While sources said the rapid rise and fall of new cases and resultant active cases is mainly due to reduced testing, State Health Commissioner D Randeep said there has been a consistent drop irrespective of the testing levels.
“All our projection models basically matched. We reached the peak a week earlier but we did not reach the peak projection of 1.2 lakh, in the worst case scenario. Karnataka peaked at over 50,000 cases that were projected in a normal case scenario,” the Commissioner said.
Pointing out that the rate of hospitalisation is a good yardstick to assess the severity of the wave, the Commissioner said this has also been on a steady decline.
However, some experts argued reducing testing, resulting in lower cases, is a wrong strategy. “The number of cases is on a decline because of reduced testing. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said asymptomatic contacts of positive patients should not be tested. But this does not mean testing of all contacts should be stopped,” an expert who did not wish to be quoted said. “Omicron is mild now, but what if it further mutates? We should revert back to our old testing strategy,” he argued.
C.N. Manjunath, nodal officer for labs and testing in the State’s COVID-19 task force and member of the State’s Clinical Experts Committee, refuted the argument that numbers are declining because of reduced testing. He said the behaviour of Omicron in Karnataka is similar to the pattern that has been observed globally.
“The pattern of a rapid rise and rapid fall is the natural behaviour of this variant, what we have seen in South Africa and other European countries. The wave has started plateauing both in rural and urban areas in Karnataka,” Dr. Manjunath said.
However, he added, “Not many are volunteering for testing assuming the disease is mild. But, it is important that those who have comorbidities and those who have symptoms seek early medical advice. Proper risk assessment is very important particularly those who continue to have symptoms.”
Published - February 03, 2022 08:47 pm IST
