Bengaluru turns Karnataka\'s COVID hotspot as denizens flout norms

Bengaluru continues to be worst affected by the pandemic. On Friday, out of the 5,483 cases that the state reported, 2,220 were from the capital. 84 new Covid deaths were also registered.

Since the first week of July Karnataka has been witnessing a spike in the number of Covid positive cases with the numbers breaching 5,000 mark

The health experts have sounded warning bells saying that the cases are expected to rise in the coming days.

"As the city and the country is opening up under Unlock 3.0, there has been a spike in the number of cases and yes, the cases are expected to rise. Though one can say that the recovery rate has improved over the months, the rise in cases can also be attributed to the improper social distancing etiquette of the public at large and not wearing masks properly," Dr Suriraju. V, MD Regal hospital.

Since the first week of July Karnataka has been witnessing a spike in the number of Covid positive cases with the numbers breaching 5,000 mark nearly everyday.

The recovery rate of the state that was at 33% a few days ago is reported to have improved and reached 40% on July 31.

In order to manage Covid suspect maternity hospital patients, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has started hiring gynecologist, pediatrician, anesthetist, general physician, MBBS doctors and staff nurse for 6 months.
Meanwhile, there have been reports coming in from Ambedkar Medical College, Shampur about the lack of electricity, unclean ward and bathrooms.

Some patients have alleged that the bed sheets are not changed. Responding to complaints on the wards and bathrooms being unclean, a staff at the hospital said that the cleaning is done four times a day. "It is not like cleaning is done after every few minutes. The cleaning staff comes four times a day," a staff said.

With a spike in the number of Covid cases, the public health officials want the government to give attention to the spike in the number of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) violations. It has come to light that other than the police and health departments the government bodies such as Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), urban local bodies, education and district collectorate have not uploaded the statistics on the website that was meant to track COPTA violations.

There are several departments (KSRTC, Police Department, Urban Local Bodies, RDPR, Education, District Collectorate etc) implementing COTPA violations in their respective jurisdictions and all the violation reports are scattered leaving the state with no proper data for policy formulation.

According to statistics by the police department, the state registered 7,231,381 cases of violation of COPTA from January to May 2020. Bengaluru reported 2,063,350 cases followed by Mysore with more than twenty thousand