Centre deploys team to work on Karnataka’s Covid-19 situation

Photo Credits: PTI file photo

With the constant spike of Covid-19 cases in the state of Karnataka, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has deployed a team of experts to assess the management of pandemic by the state government.

A Joint Secretary, a public health expert and one clinician comprised of the team sent by the Centre to Karnataka for review and assessment. The team of experts has conducted the field-review of the present scenario of the districts Dharwad and Kalaburagi and will holding a meeting with the officials of the State Health Department scheduled on Saturday.

An official statement was released by Union Health Ministry on Friday, which stated, “Teams will be support the state efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and efficient clinical management of the positive cases. The central teams shall also guide in effectively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow-up.

The high-level teams have been sent to Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and West Bengal, reporting the most increase in the fresh cases of Covid-19.

The officials will be giving recommendations on the Karnataka’s model of Covid-19 management, without any interference. Considering the total number of cases in the state, Union Health Ministry stated the state added up to 10.1% of the national figures.The ministry said, “It has 11,010 cases per million population. So far, 6,20,008 patients have recovered in the state, resulting in recovery rate of 83.35%. The active cases are 1,13,557 (14.1% of national figure). The state has reported a total of 10,283 fatalities, CFR of 1.38% and 152 deaths per million population. The TPM is 95,674 and positivity rate is at 11.5%.”

Karnataka has highest rate of tests per million among the five states accounting to 95, 674 with active cases of 1,13,557, it adds up to 14.1% of the national figure. When comparing with the other states, the tests per million range from 53,518 in Kerala to 37,872 in West Bengal. The state has also revised the testing prices for Covid-19. The sample collection and transportation of government and private samples to lab would be Rs. 400. For government samples, it would cost Rs. 800 whereas for private labs would be Rs. 1200, for collection from home, the cost will be Rs. 1,600.