‘Empty’ Covid centres in city may be closed

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad gave the example of the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), which now functions with 6,500 beds as against 10,000 beds when it was opened.  He said steps were being taken to transfer excess beds to hospitals/hostels.  Prasad said Covid Care Centres that are likely to be closed would be reopened if there is a surge in Covid cases.  

Pointing to the increased testing and related increase in positive cases, the civic chief said 3,000 daily tests were being done in July. The end of August saw 30,000 daily tests and a positivity rate of 10 per cent  (16,000 on August 16, 21,000 on August 17, 23,000 on August 18, 28,000 on August 28, 26,000 on August 29, and 31,961 on August 31). 

Prasad said the mortality rate too has fallen recently to 1.52 per cent in August. Referring to complaints of indiscriminate testing by staff because they are given a daily testing target, Prasad said the focus would now be on those over 50 years with conditions like ILI/SARI and primary contacts in containment areas.  

‘Stigma’ factor  

Barricades will not be installed if just one or two cases are detected within a 100-metre range in a containment area but only where there are more than 3 cases. He said there are no barricades in 17,159 areas with just one or two cases, while there are 1,018 barricades in areas with more than 3 cases. 

Earlier, posters were pasted in front of infected persons’ houses. But because of complaints about the stigma involved, neighbours will now only be informed about the situation without the pasting of posters, Prasad said.  

19 hospitals see more deaths  

There are 19 hospitals in BBMP limits with a large proportion of Covid deaths. 24,368 cases have been admitted to these hospitals, and 1,598 have died. A team will visit each of these hospitals for a death audit, he said.