Karnataka reserves beds, ventilators for COVID-19 patients as cases cross 11K mark

Bengaluru: With the graph of coronavirus going up in the city, the government has reserved 2,200 beds for COVID cases out of the 10,689 beds available at 11 private medical colleges in the city.

At least 281 ICU COVID beds out of the 561 and 120 ventilators of the total 239 at these private colleges have also been reserved.

The medical colleges have been ordered to run a minimum of two fever clinics and ensure that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved COVID-19 testing laboratories are established.

On Friday, the state health department noted 445 cases, including 65 cases linked to interstate passengers, taking the tally to 11,005. Ten people died of the virus on Friday. Out of 445 cases, 178 have been admitted to the ICU. Bengaluru registered 144 cases, out of which 123 are in the ICU.  

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION A REALITY

With the influx of Maharashtra returnees to Karnataka, there has been a spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases. Doctors now believe that there will be a surge in the number of positive cases in the next month.

Dr CN Manjunath, director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, acknowledged that though there is no major case of community transmission but added there has been a spurt in the number cases due to returnees from Maharashtra.

South Western Railway TTE succumbs to Covid

A 57-year-old Travelling ticketing Examiner (TTE) succumbed to coronavirus in Bagalkot; his swab test result coming out positive after his death. He had no issue of comorbidities.  .

16 COVID CASES IN RANDOM TESTING

In a random testing of BMTC employees, sixteen positive cases were detected, out of which four have been discharged from the hospital. Primary contacts have been tracked by the Bengaluru civic authorities and put under home quarantine.

ONE PATIENT DIES BY SUICIDE

A 60-year-old woman who tested positive killed herself at KC General hospital, Malleshwaram. She was hanging in the restroom of the hospital at 2 am. A few days ago, a head constable with the state reserve police had died by suicide on his way to CV Raman hospital.  

“It is important to be able to differentiate between stress and anxiety. Stress is mostly due to a specific reason but anxiety is more out of imaginary and futuristic thoughts. Stress can be managed by various techniques but anxiety may need pharmacotherapy. Stress is short-term and can lead to sleep disturbances, poor attention and concentration while if left untreated can lead to anxiety which has physical manifestations like palpitations, sweating, loss of appetite and sleep disorders which if persist for long can also lead to feeling of worthlessness and suicidal ideation,”  Dr Himani Khanna, Developmental Pediatrician & Co-Founder of Continua Kids explained.

CONTAINMENT ZONES

Keeping the flow of economic activities in mind, the state government has refused to impose another lockdown. However, 477 areas in the city have been declared as containment zones by the civic body, with maximum cases being reported from South and West zones.  

On June 25, BBMP noted 1,268 instances of people not wearing masks and collected Rs 2.5 lakh. Over 52 cases of violations of social distancing were also reported.  

Special commissioner, BBMP, Randeep D stated, “The officials track home quarantined citizens who have to mandatorily stay at home. If they do not stay at home, criminal cases will be lodged. Our officials are tracing primary and secondary contacts of Covid positive persons. But we request the contact of such persons to voluntarily come forward and follow quarantine norms. The Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) have to help us in tracing them.”