COVID-19: 17 discharges in a day; ten new infections including 1 death in K’taka

Team Udayavani, Apr 22, 2020, 7:57 AM IST

Bengaluru: Seventeen COVID-19 patients were discharged from designated hospitals after recovery on Tuesday in Karnataka, where 10 new coronavirus cases were reported, including one death, the health department said.

An 80-year-old man from Kalaburagi became the 17th COVID- 19 fatalities in the state.

The deceased was suffering from Parkinson s disease since the last four years and had been bedridden for the last three years, the department said in its bulletin.

He got admitted on April 19 at a designated hospital in Kalaburagi with the complaint of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), and died at the hospital, it said.

Ten COVID-19 cases were reported in the state on Tuesday.

Cumulatively 418 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, including 17 deaths and 129 discharges, the bulletin said.

Out of the 272 active cases, 267 patients (including a pregnant woman) are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 5 are in Intensive Care Units.

“Seventeen discharges have taken place today after recovery. It is a good number,” Minister S Suresh Kumar, who is the spokesperson for COVID-19 in Karnataka, told reporters.

Of the nine cases, other than the deceased, three are from Vijayapura, two each from Kalaburagi and Nanjanagudu in Mysuru, and one each from Bantwala in Dakshina Kannada and Belagavi.

Seven out of 10 cases are contacts of patients already tested positive, two have a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and one with Influenza-like illness (ILI).

Contact tracing has been initiated and was in progress for all the cases, the department said.

Nine out of total 418 cases detected and confirmed in Karnataka so far are transit passengers of Kerala.

The most number of infections have been reported in Bengaluru urban with 89 cases, followed by Mysuru 86 and Belagavi 43.

Out of total of 129 patients discharged, the maximum of 48 are from Bengaluru, 31 from Mysuru and 11 from Dakshina Kannada.

Among the dead, four each are from Bengaluru urban and Kalaburagi, two each from Chikkaballapura and Vijayapura, and one each from Belagavi, Bagalkote, Gadag, Dakshina Kannada and Tumakuru.

A total of 26,233 samples were tested so far, out of which 2,773 were tested on Tuesday alone.

So far 22,222 samples have reported as negative, of which 2,725 tested negative on Tuesday.

The Minister said the centre’s Director General Health Services, Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (Biological Division), has sent a letter to Dr. Vishal Rao of Health Care Global Enterprises limited and his team in Karnataka, granting permission to conduct clinical study (trial) in plasma therapy for treating COVID-19 patients.

“We were waiting for this for a long time. Definitely this is good news. I wish success to the team in their clinical trial,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Chief Secretary issued a circular instructing 18 essential departments, including the Secretariat, to function with full staff and other Departments to function with 33 per cent workforce

The departments are- Health & Family Welfare, Medical Education, Home, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Urban Development, Food, Civil Supply, Information and Public Relations, Transport, Energy, DPAR (E-Governance).

Also, Finance, Including all Treasuries in the state, Animal Husbandry and Fishery, Forest, Environment and Ecology, Agricultural Marketing, Agriculture, Labour, and Horticulture.

In another circular, the Department of Health & Family Welfare sought the support of Medical Colleges in starting Fever Clinic and said colleges need to give their consent for establishing the clinics at their respective Hospitals.

The District Administration would monitor and supervise the activities of the Fever Clinics, it said, adding that the required logistics and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) would be provided by the department free of cost.

Alarmed by reports that 53 media persons have tested positive for coronavirus in neighboring Maharashtra, the Karnataka government on Tuesday decided to conduct tests for the journalists in Bengaluru.

“The Information department is preparing modalities for it….it is good if journalists who are working in the forefront also undergo tests,” the minister added.