Bengaluru’s COVID-19 cases see marginal rise but hospital admissions drop

CM Basavaraj Bommai will meet members of the TAC to decide if primary schools will be reopened in the coming days.
Healh care workers in a Bengaluru hospital wearing PPE kit
Healh care workers in a Bengaluru hospital wearing PPE kit

All major COVID-19 indices in Bengaluru which were majorly improving on a week-on-week basis for over two months saw a marginal increase over the week ending August 28. However, experts including those in the state level Technical Advisory Committee have said that as of now there is nothing to worry about. While the case numbers, COVID deaths, and positivity rate have increased in the week ending August 28, hospital admissions have continued to drop. They have said current restrictions on mass gatherings and wearing masks have to be followed in order to prevent the situation from getting out of control as seen during the peak of the second wave of infections. Additionally, the state government has maintained that the night curfew between 9pm-5am will continue to be in place. 

BBMP Commissioner Gaurav Gupta also urged the public to follow COVID protocols. Speaking with reporters on Monday, he said,  “As of now COVID-19 cases are under control. However in the neighbouring states, we are seeing an increase. In this situation, to control the pandemic, restrictions are necessary.”

Members of the TAC are slated to meet the Chief Minister at 4 pm on Monday to deliberate over whether other restrictions need to be imposed. Meanwhile, the CM along with other officials are also to deliberate on reopening primary schools, which have been shut since the onset of the pandemic, in the coming weeks. The state government reopened schools from Class 8 to 12 in the previous week. 

For the week between August 22-28, Bengaluru recorded 2,250 cases and 24 deaths compared to 2,134 cases and 22 deaths recorded in the previous week. The positivity rate too rose to 0.54% from 0.52% of the previous week. However, in five districts the positivity rate is over 2%.

Similarly, the case fatality rate also increased to 1.07% from 1.03% when comparing week-on-week. While positivity rate is the measure of number of positive tests per 100 tests, CFR is the measure of number of deaths per 100 cases. But importantly, the number of hospital admissions under the government quota for the week ending August 28 was 82 compared to 94 admissions recorded the previous week.

In another bright sign, daily vaccination numbers which were gradually going down over the last month have improved in the last 10 days with supply from the Union government getting better. The number of vaccine doses administered in the city was 66,120 on average for the 10-day period starting August 17. While the number of average daily jabs given in the city in the previous 30 days were 51,002. However, these numbers are way below BBMP’s target of vaccinating 1 lakh people daily.

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