The Karnataka government on Wednesday reported 19 new coronavirus cases in the state, the highest increase on a single day so far. This takes the total number of cases in the state to 279 including 12 deaths and 80 people who have recovered after testing positive for the virus.
Nine of the new patients reported on Wednesday are employees of Jubilant Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical company based in Mysuru district. A total of 46 cases reported in Mysuru are connected to this cluster. The state health department is yet to trace the source of the infection.
“Delegates had visited the company from the United States, Germany, Japan and China between February 4 and 18. The first patient in the cluster showed symptoms on March 13 and tested positive on March 24 (Patient 52). Since then, we have tested 780 people connected to the company,” Karnataka Education Minister S Suresh Kumar, who addresses daily briefings, said.
Stringent lockdown measures have been imposed in Nanjangud in Mysuru, where Jubilant Life Sciences is based.
The cases in Karnataka also include 15 cases with no contact or travel history abroad or to New Delhi. The patients only have a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI). Two new cases with SARI history emerged in Bengaluru and Mysuru on Wednesday. In addition, one patient in Kalaburagi had a history of Influenza-like-Illness while another patient reported in Bagalkote was a police officer on-duty at a madrasa in Mudhol.
Two deaths were reported in the state on Wednesday taking the total number of deaths to 12. A 65-year-old man from Chikkaballapura, who was shifted to a hospital in Bengaluru on Monday evening, died. The state government reported, he was H1N1 positive, had “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with obstructive sleep apnea and past history of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, hypertension.”
Another 80-year-old woman who tested positive in Hirebagewadi of Belagavi district died on Wednesday.
Eight districts in Karnataka were identified as hotspots of the disease including Bengaluru and Mysuru where 71 and 58 cases have been reported, according to Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Karnataka's Health Secretary. The districts are Bengaluru Urban, Mysuru, Belagavi, Dakshina Kannada, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Bagalkote, Dharwad, and Bidar.
Ministry of Health, Govt. of India has identified 8 districts of Karnataka as hotspots
— PANKAJ KUMAR PANDEY, IAS (@iaspankajpandey) April 15, 2020
These are :
Bangalore Urban
Mysore
Belagavi
Dakshin Kannada
Bidar
Kalaburgi
Bagalokote
Dharwad@CMofKarnataka @drashwathcn @sriramulubjp @DrKSudhakar4 @PIBBengaluru @Mysuru_district
The state government announced that District-level Medical Expert Committees will be constituted to help fight the spread of the disease. This will include medical experts from anaesthesia, cardiology, general medicine, and pulmonary medicine specialities, from both private and public sectors. The group of experts will advise hospitals in each district on managing the outbreak.
In a bid to intensify the care given for patients at risk, a Critical Support Team will also be constituted at every government hospital to guide doctors treating COVID-19 patients. This team will review patients admitted in five categories on a daily basis. The categories are patients admitted in ICU with ventilator support, admitted in ICU with or without oxygen support, patients above 60 years of age, patients with comorbidities, and pregnant women.