Bengaluru has witnessed an increase in the number of hospital admissions for COVID-19, while all other major COVID-19 indices — including positivity rate — have improved on a week-on-week basis. According to BBMP figures, 156 patients were admitted in government quota beds across the city for the week ending August 7. The same for the previous week was 127. This breaks the trend of decreasing hospital admissions on a week-on-week basis over the past two months. Experts have advised the public to strictly follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing.
TNM had reported how on August 2, the city had reported an increase in cases and other COVID-19 indices on a week-on-week basis for the first time in more than two months. The number of fresh COVID-19 cases registered in Bengaluru in the week between August 1
and 7 was 2,738 while the same for the week between July 25-31 was 2,988. The number of COVID-19 fatalities dropped as well. While 34 deaths were recorded for the week ending August 7, the same for the previous week was 48. Similarly, the positivity rate and case fatality rate also improved.
The positivity rate for the week ending August 7 was 0.62% and the same for the previous week was 0.72%. The CFR also improved from 1.61% in the past week to 1.24% for the week ending July 7. While CFR is the measure of the number of deaths per 100 positive cases, the positivity rate is the measure of the number of positive cases for every 100 tests. Dr Pradeep Banandur, member of the TAC and professor at the Centre for Public Health, NIMHANS, noted that they are not going to recommend additional restrictions as of now.
“We will be worried once the positivity rate increases more than 2% from here and 60% of oxygenated beds are occupied,” he told TNM. According to the latest Union government guideline, stricter restrictions are to be imposed when the positivity rate reaches 5%. He added, “We will ask for schools to be closed once the positivity rate increases more than 2%.”
Similarly, Dr Vivek Padegal, director of Pulmonology, Fortis Hospital on Monday, recently stated, “People are forgetting and week after week there seems to be a spike happening and people have lowered their guard which should not be the case and must be careful to prevent the third wave.” He noted that masking, vaccination, maintaining distance and testing when symptomatic were key to stopping the spread of the virus. Dr Padegal was speaking at an online event hosted by Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar, addressing Bengaluru resident groups.
On August 7, Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai reinstated the night curfew one hour earlier at 9 pm instead of 10 pm. Along with this, there are other restrictions across the state in wake of a spike in cases.
With the rise in infections, the number of containment zones have also increased across the city. From 136 active containment zones placed on August 1, the number rose to 159 on August 8.