Bengaluru To Witness Covid Peak By May 17; Likely To See Over 14K Deaths: Experts
The second wave of Covid-19 in Karnataka will start flattening after May 17, a study by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) showed. Karnataka, the second worst-hit Covid state in the country after Maharashtra has been recording nearly 50,000 fresh cases daily. The state saw 47,930 new infections and 490 fatalities which took the cumulative number of infections and death toll to 19.34 lakh and 18,776 respectively.
Bengaluru Urban district reported 20,897 infections and 281 fatalities, which is highest in the state. The city has so far detected a total of 9.50 lakh cases and 8,057 deaths.
Meanwhile, the Department of Computational and Data Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) predicted that the death toll in Bengaluru could climb to 14,220 from 8,057 by June 11. Researchers at the esteemed institute took the ongoing vaccination drive and lockdown-like restrictions imposed across Karnataka into account to arrive at these numbers.
On May 6, while speaking to PTI, Dr Giridhara R Babu, who is a professor and head of Life Course Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India had estimated that there will be a peak in Karnataka in 2 weeks. “I will not give a clear indication on the number of cases during the peak, but irrespective of the testing, we will see the peak in the next two weeks,” he said.
The professor asserted that there should be more screening and triage centres with oxygen supply all over Bengaluru where the coronavirus cases are high. “These (Triaging centres) should be set up every five kilometres. By doing this kind of enhanced triage by using existing manpower, we can tide over the crisis,” he claimed.
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