Karnataka surpassed another milestone in its epidemic-control measures, with COVID-19 tests crossing the 20 million mark on Wednesday. 86,648 new samples were tested in the last 24 hours, with the total number of tests touching 2,00,08,072 on Wednesday.
The state had tested more than 10 million samples since March last year, when the epidemic hit Karnataka by November 21, 2020. With this, Karnataka is the third state in the country – after Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – to have tested over two crore samples.
With this, the cumulative test positivity rate reached 4.81% on Wednesday. From an average of 80 tests a day in March 2020, to January 2021, the state tested an average of more than one million samples a day. The test was carried out since May. From a total of 2,310 tests in March, the state conducted around 1.6 million tests in August. This increased to about 2 million trials in September. The test per million went from 44,099 on 30 September to 72,541 on 1 September. On 2 October, the state tests touched the 50 lakh mark, touched 50,89,730 and broke the one crore mark on 21 November.
RT-PCR test
The state dependence on the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) significantly reduced with 79.4% of the total 2,00,08,072 tests conducted so far (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction – RT-PCR). The RT-PCR test is the gold standard test with a negligible probability of false negativity.
The state had lowered its daily test target to 70,000 after the end of January, raising it to one lakh per day from March 15.
CN Manjunath, the nodal officer for laboratories and testing in the state COVID-19 task force, said that the test needs to be speeded up not only to prevent infection but also to ensure early intervention in sick patients. “We need to track patients with moderate symptoms for early admission and treatment. This is the key to reducing mortality, especially now that the number is increasing rapidly. In addition, contact tracing must also be elevated to include the second wave in the initial phase.
Death of four
Karnataka on Wednesday registered 1,275 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total to 9,63,614. Of these 786 cases were from Bangalore Urban alone. With four deaths, the toll increased to 12,407. This is in addition to 19 deaths of patients due to non-COVID-19 causes.
On Wednesday, 479 people were discharged, taking the total recovery to 9,40,968. Of the remaining 10,220 active patients, 134 are being monitored in the ICU. While the positivity rate for the day was 1.47%, the case fatality rate touched 0.31%.
Vaccination
6,55,162 seniors have been vaccinated in the state since March 1, when the second phase was rolled out. In addition, 1,49,151 people above the age of 45 with co-morbidity have been vaccinated. On Wednesday, 26,532 people above the age of 45, with 1,12,133 seniors and co-morbidities, took notice. Cumulatively, Bengaluru Urban recorded the highest numbers – 1,93,253 and 33,170 respectively in both these categories.
A total of 4,99,171 healthcare workers and 1,83,805 frontline workers have taken the first dose of vaccination so far. 3,01,847 healthcare workers have taken the second dose.
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