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    Rising cases in hinterlands a worry for health administrators in South India

    Synopsis

    Chennai, for instance, remained relatively flat with the daily count ranging between 1,100 and 1,400 in the past few days, but its neighbouring districts such as Thiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Kanchipuram are leading the increase in rural spread in Tamil Nadu.

    Covid fatalAgencies
    In Karnataka, Covid care centres (CCC) or step-down health facilities are coming up in districts to reduce the stress on hospitals.
    Bengaluru: While a lot of attention has been on Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad for a surge in Covid-19 cases, many districts are also reporting a steep rise in daily case counts in the past few days, worrying health administrators. The districts sharing borders with large cities are among the most affected. Officials blame the spread on the unrestricted inter- and intra-state travel.

    Chennai, for instance, remained relatively flat with the daily count ranging between 1,100 and 1,400 in the past few days, but its neighbouring districts such as Thiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Kanchipuram are leading the increase in rural spread in Tamil Nadu. Chengalpet follows Chennai with 12,717 cases, while Thiruvallur has 12,320. Chennai accounts for almost half of the state’s two lakh cases.

    Health officials, however, ascribe the rise in cases in Tamil Nadu to their aggressive testing. The state has won plaudits with the highest testing rate in India.

    In Karnataka, Bengaluru remains a worry with daily cases crossing the 2,000-mark of late. It was comforting that districts were reporting less than 300 cases a day till recently. But in the past few days, there has been a sudden jump as districts such as Ballari and Kalaburagi have started reporting 600-800 cases a day. On Monday, Karnataka breached the one lakh-mark in Covid cases, of which Bengaluru has seen 46%. Districts such as Ballari (4,930), Dakshina Kannada (4,925), Kalaburagi (4,495), Udupi (3,612) and Dharwad (3,383) have emerged as the latest hotspots.

    In Andhra Pradesh, where testing has been stepped up, East Godavari district reported the highest number of active cases at 16,063, followed by Kurnool (13,380), Guntur (11,692), Anantapur (10,987) and West Godavari (9,577). These districts also account for more than half of the 1,148 cumulative Covid deaths in the state.

    In Karnataka, officials say unrestricted movement of people with little regard to social distancing has caused the recent spike. Until June-end, most of those who tested positive were returnees from hotspots such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu or those with a contact history. But towards the first week of July, the state’s Covid bulletin traced the source of infection of several cases in districts to Bengaluru.

    “After the lockdown was eased, people started returning to their native places. As feared by experts, they carried the virus with them to districts,” an official in Kalaburagi said.

    Officials in Andhra Pradesh said the spread of infections in its districts occurred due to reverse migration of its own natives from big cities after the lockdown ended. They believe they contributed to community spread in a big way. Though those who tested positive among migrants were a small number at about 2% of the total count, asymptomatic migrants accelerated the spread in the rural areas, said officials.

    “Reverse migration of security guards, construction workers, laundrymen and other small businessmen from Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru led to the spread in a few districts,” officials added.

    The sustained increase in caseloads notwithstanding, healthcare officials say the challenge is not unsurmountable, pointing to the ramp-up in infrastructure they pulled off during the breather they got during the lockdown period.

    AP health minister Alla Nani said five more tertiary care hospitals will come up in Srikakulam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Anantapur and Guntur districts.

    In Karnataka, Covid care centres (CCC) or step-down health facilities are coming up in districts to reduce the stress on hospitals. A building at a university campus in Mysuru has now been morphed into a facility to house 600 beds.


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