Covid-19: Bengaluru infections up 57%; 5% active cases in hospitals

BENGALURU: Karnataka on Friday witnessed a 68% jump in Covid-19 cases, touching 8,449, while Bengaluru saw a 57% jump to report 6,812 infections.
The active Covid-19 cases in the state rose to 30,113, including 25,370 in Bengaluru alone.
Despite a surge in Covid-19 cases, not more than 5% of the active cases have been admitted in hospitals, Karnataka health and medical education minister K Sudhakar said on Friday.
As on Wednesday, 831 patients were admitted to hospitals in the state and 700 of them were in general beds, the minister said.
Minister: Govt working on roping in 10k home surgeons, nursing students
Five other districts reported more than 100 cases on Friday: Mysuru 219 cases, Dakshina Kannada 211, Udupi 148, Mandya 129 and Belagavi114.
Sudhakar said the state government is prepared for the third wave and added that hospital beds must be reserved only for those suffering from moderate and severe symptoms of the disease.
“No person with mild symptoms shall use influence to get admitted to hospital. Admission will be decided by the triaging system,” he said.
To monitor home-isolated patients, the state government is working on roping in 10,000 home surgeons and nursing students who will be coordinating with the patients for teletriaging, he said. Uniform treatment protocol, discharge policy and quarantine guidelines will be released shortly, he said.
Referring to the recent statements by the World Health Organization, he said Omicron is the fastest speeding variant.
“Although Omicron is not as severe as Delta, it cannot be termed ‘mild’. Those who are fully vaccinated with two doses may not get a severe infection. Everyone should get two doses,” said the minister.
He said more than 99% of the eligible population in Karnataka is vaccinated with the first dose and 80% with two doses. The government is mulling issuing ‘green passes’ to identify fully vaccinated persons.
On the global Covid situation, the minister said more than29crore have been infected across the world.
“From December 27, 2021to January 2, the infection has increased by 79%. About 80% of the cases in ICU are not vaccinated. WHO has requested India to export vaccines to other countries. No country is safe until every country is safe,” he said.