State sees a dip in COVID cases

Covid-19 Health Karnataka State

Even though the number of COVID cases is decreasing, experts advise wearing masks and maintaining social distance.

The state sees a dip in COVID cases as it records lowest number of cases for the fourth consecutive day.

“The number of COVID cases in the last 24 hours is 90 with one death, which is down from the previous week,” said Randeep. D, Commissioner of Public Health and Family Welfare.

He added that in the previous 24 hours, the total positivity rate has been 0.80 per cent. Despite this, the case fatality rate is 1.1 per cent. There are currently no active containment zones in Bengaluru urban and BBMP areas. There is one active containment zone in the state. “Because COVID instances are diminishing, I don’t believe containment zones are necessary at this time,” he said.

The total number of tests performed in the last 24 hours, including RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) is 11,142, according to the statistics from the Department ofPublic Health and Family Welfare. A total of 121 travellers were tested at the airport, with one of them testing positive.

A total of 13,713 persons have received booster doses in the previous 24 hours. There are 1925 active cases at the moment. The maximum number of cases was registered in the past week, with 191, on May 5, 2022. It has now dropped to 90.

“My roommate was recently diagnosed with covid-19. He was asymptomatic and was cured with normal medical care. He just isolated himself in a room. He tested negative in three days. Nowadays we are considering it as a normal flu,” said Prudhvi from Kormangala.

In Sheshadripuram, Cunnigham Road, Nrupathunga Road, Vivek Nagar Post, MG Road, and Jayanagar, hospitals including Fortis Hospital, St Martha’s Hospital, St Philomena’s Hospital, Shifa Hospitals, and Apollo Hospital have recorded zero COVID cases in the recent 24 hours or week.

“For me, it’s not a concerning mutation, and the people we’re treating have no symptoms,” said Dr Rajani BN, Deputy Director of Immunization.

She added that even the youngsters have been immunised. “The government is taking a positive step in the direction of booster dosages. So far, we’ve been told that booster dosages should only be given to adults above the age of 60, including frontline workers and health workers,” she said.

“It would be excellent if people just followed the primary precautions like social distance and wearing masks,” said Dr Rajani.

“Delta and Omicron variants originated from alterations in the genome of the SARS COV-2 virus,” said Dr. Madhu Khanna, a professor at the V.P. Chest Institute’s Department of Virology, Delhi. Variations in the genome are referred to as mutations. Except in a few rare circumstances known as “same-sense mutations,” each alteration in the genome will modify a specific protein, she added.

“The risk is that, while our COVID-19 rates are currently lower, some other variant will emerge after this one and cause an increase in the number of cases, hospitalizations, and fatalities,” said Khanna.

She further added that the virus will benefit from the mutation that allows it to escape the immune system of host. Because it has genetic changes that make it harder to differentiate from the Delta variation than the original Omicron Variant using RT-PCR tests, the BA.2 Omicron subvariant has been called the Stealth Omicron.

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