‘About 6,500 COVID cases per day in B’luru can’t be ruled out if control measures are not strictly followed’

PTI, Apr 5, 2021, 4:01 PM IST

Bengaluru: Not ruling out an expert prediction that Bengaluru alone may report 6,500 COVID cases per day by the middle of this month if control measures are not strictly followed, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Monday sought public cooperation to keep the situation under control.

‘Technical advisory committee in their report has said till May end…till May-end we have to take things seriously and together fight it (COVID), without the cooperation from the public, the government alone cannot do anything,’ Sudhakar said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, saving lives was important and the government was committed to it.

‘An expert from the technical advisory committee has said that there are chances of Bengaluru alone reporting nearly 6,500 cases per day by April 20, we have already reached 3,500, we have to see,’ he said, adding that, by taking stricter measures we cannot control it, if not it cannot be ruled out.

Dr Giridhara R Babu, Professor and Head Lifecourse Epidemiology, Public Health Foundation of India, has said at this rate, Bengaluru will have about 6,500 daily cases by April 20.

‘Even if 10 per cent of them require hospitalisation, the health system will run out of capacity in a few days. We need action now, not tomorrow. Stay home people, wear masks if going out and get a vaccine when eligible,’ the epidemiologist has tweeted.

Sudhakar also indicated that the Chief Minister may call a meeting of opposition leaders to discuss the COVID situation soon.

The Health Minister said, 10 lakh vaccines have been sent by the Centre to Bengaluru by flight and about 5 lakh have been sent to Belagavi by road.

‘Till yesterday 46,02,000 vaccinations have been done, I had said that only about 12 lakh vaccines are remaining, but after speaking to the union health Minister and principal secretary yesterday they responded to it immediately and have sent over 15 lakh vaccines,’ he said.

Noting that because of weekend holidays, there is a slight dip in the number of infected cases, Sudhakar said, in Bengaluru about 2,700 and 4,553 across Karnataka have been reported on Sunday.

Wearing masks has to be strictly followed, he said, the Prime Minister yesterday has reviewed the situation in eight states and the respective states have been given the responsibility to take necessary steps.

Enforcement of strict measures have been advised if there is an increase in cases, he further said, ‘…I request everyone for cooperation to see to that such a situation does not arise in Karnataka, only by strictly adhering to precautionary measures will we be able to control the spread.’ Pointing out that spike in cases will lead to problems like shortage of beds at ICUs and hospitals, the Minister said, we are able to see this to an extent in Bengaluru.

‘I had ten days ago spoken to government hospitals in this regard, and private hospitals to reserve 20 per cent beds, I will review the status today with officials concerned,’ he said.