Bengaluru logs 565 fresh Covid-19 cases, a 6-month record

BENGALURU: Karnataka on Thursday reported 707 fresh Covid-19 cases, its highest in 91 days, with Bengaluru accounting for 565 cases, a new peak in the past 176 days.
The state had reported more cases — 933 — on September 30 and Bengaluru 611 cases on July 7.
The state's active caseload has touched 8,223, its highest in 47 days. The last time the state had reported more than 8,000 active cases was on Nov 13 when there were 8,027 active cases.
The lion's share of the state's active case burden comes from Bengaluru that accounts for 6,846 cases (83.2%).
In 2-3 months, Delta may be replaced by Omicron: Doc
While the BBMP authorities admitted to a definite rise in Covid cases, they pointed out there is an increase in testing in the city and there is also a watch on the quality of tests conducted. "We need to keep a close watch for the next 10 days," said Dr AS Balasundar, chief health officer, BBMP, adding a majority of the active cases in the city are asymptomatic patients and the ICU admissions have not increased.All other districts have less than 220 active cases. Kodagu stood second to Bengaluru with 216 active cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada 146, Ballari 107 and Udupi 102. Interestingly, Gadag and Haveri districts have nil active cases.
Kodagu is the only district in the state that has reported more than 1% Covid test positivity rate in the past seven days. While the state's Covid test positivity rate for a week now has been a little less than 0.4%, five districts, including Kodagu, have reported more than the state's average. The test positivity rate of Bengaluru Urban was 0.6%, Kolar 0.5%, and Uttara Kannada and Tumakuru slightly over 0.4% for the past seven days, as per the state war room data.
Experts tracking the Covid graph said a similar spike began ahead of the second wave in January 2021. "It appears the trend is repeating. The virus may have a biological circadian cycle, as we saw in the beginning of the cases in 2020 and 2021. Over a period of 2-3 months, Delta variant is likely to be replaced by Omicron," said Dr CN Manjunath, Covid technical expert committee member.