Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB)

Udupi, Nov 30: The total symptomatic coronavirus cases in the district are about 9 per cent. Around 43 patients are being treated in the hospital, 176 are under home isolation, 219 are active cases. Three people have been placed in the ICU. 87 ICU beds are vacant for the first time in the district. Most of the patients are in home isolation and asymptomatic cases are more than the symptomatic ones. Positive cases are witnessing a downward trend. When comparing the national statistics, Karnataka stands in the second place, after Maharashtra. Until yesterday, 8.83 lac coronavirus cases have been reported in Karnataka and the recovery rate is 96 per cent, whereas the fatality rate in the country has dropped down to 1.6 per cent. 1.67 lac tests per million, have been conducted, stated district Covid nodal officer Dr Prashanth Bhat at a press meet.

"Over 22,675 samples have been tested till Sunday. The total recovery rate is very high at 98.3% when compared to national and state-level coronavirus statistics. The total tested samples were 1,87,287 per million. The fatality rate of Covid is 0.8%. On average, 2,500 cases have been tested every day consistently. Since the last two months, positive cases are on the rise. The total positive cases were 400 in August and later on decreased to 200 per day. Most of the cases were from people who came in the district from other countries. For the last two months, the corona-positive rate remained around 25-30 per cent. However, from November the rate of positive cases declined to 1 per cent. In the same month, we are getting 20 positive cases on average," he added.

"In the beginning, the positive cases were reported in people who have migrated from other places, after July it was observed in local people. After reaching the peak stage, the rate at which the virus was spreading came under control," Dr Bhat said. "The last Covid positive patient died on November 7 and it has been over 20 days since the last death," he added.

If coronavirus protocol is not enforced rigorously, concerned officials will face action: DC

Deputy commissioner G Jagadeesha said, “I held meeting with the experts to discuss on how can we control the second wave of coronavirus in the district."

"I have observed the sellers, shop owners at the market, who do not wear masks while dealing with customers. I instructed the CMC officials to penalise them without any excuse. However, it was found that none of the officials carried out this order. Therefore, I directed the concerned department to issue a show-cause notice to such officials," the DC said.

"All we have to do is follow MHA guidelines until December end. I have seen that people are violating the coronavirus protocol and organizing large gatherings. Henceforth, if people are planning to organise events, weddings, religious functions, festivals, family programmes, they will be required to obtain permission from the tahsildars," he said.

"Over 54 corona positive cases were reported among college students after the reopening of colleges. I have conducted meetings with educational institutions and advised them on how to follow the MHA guidelines. Final year college students will have regular classes and the first and second-year students will have contact classes. We have decided to appoint taluk level nodal officers and conduct surprise visits to check whether health guidelines are followed or not," DC added.

Sadashiva Prabhu additional deputy commissioner, Sudhir Chandra Sooda, DHO Udupi, Kiran Padnekar deputy secretary, K Raju, assistant commissioner, Kundapur were present.