VIJAYAPURA: With the addition of 44 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, Vijayapura became the 10th district in Karnataka with a tally of more than 1,000. As per official records, 719 COVID-19 patients have been discharged, while over 400 are active and 19 have died in the district so far.
However, on a positive note, the recovery rate is as high as 65 percent and fatality rate is below 3 percent. Among the infected, over 90 percent are asymptomatic, while 5 per cent have mild symptoms and the remaining 5 percent have more severe symptoms.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Deputy Commissioner Y S Patil said, “Early identification of positive cases is the key to curb the fatality rate. As per the allotment, we are supposed to collect the swabs of only 400 people. Instead, we are drawing samples of over 1,500 people every day. This is resulting in a spike in positive cases in the district. The best part about the fresh cases is that most of the infected are asymptomatic. We believe that nearly 98 percent of the patients will get cured and discharged from the designated hospitals.”
In the span of one week, over 40 police personnel, who are frontline warriors, tested positive, which led to the sealing of the District Police office and at least three police stations across the district. Meanwhile, over 25 employees in Vijayapura City Corporation and 10 health professionals have tested positive.
According to sources from the District Health Office, “The district might witness fresh cases at an average of 100 a day for the next one week, whereas earlier the average was 50 cases a day.” The district health authorities are waiting for the results of over 2,000 samples.
COVID Care Centres
With the rise in cases being worrisome and most of the beds taken or reserved for symptomatic patients, the district administration has converted at least 24 government hostels with a total bed capacity of 1,225 to treat not-so-critical patients and asymptomatic patients at temporary COVID Care Centres across the district.
Meanwhile, the district administration is also in talks with private institutions and proprietors of halls to convert their buildings into COVID Care Centres to arrange another 6,000 beds in the district.
“On the directions of the state government, we are planning to set up COVID Care Centres of 6,000 beds in the next few weeks. We have already held meetings with the authorities concerned and building owners, mainly institutions and halls. At present, we have converted 24 state run hostels into COVID care centres with 50 beds each. We are not facing any dearth of beds in the district. These are being set up as a precaution,” clarified Deputy Commissioner Patil.