Covid cases continue to fall in Mysuru

Shilpa P. | NT

There has been a drastic fall in the number of new Covid-19 cases in Mysuru, but the hospitalization and deaths continue to remain elevated.

In January, Mysuru city had recorded 66 deaths due to Covid, but in February the number of deaths had already touched 43 in the first half of the month.

In terms of caseload, Mysuru comes third in the state, after Bengaluru urban and Belagavi, while it has the second highest number of deaths after Bengaluru urban.

On February 12 there were 197 new cases, 81 were children, and this is a fraction of new cases recorded on January 22 (4,601), when the Omicron strain reached its peak.

The test positivity rate continues to be more than the state average. The test positivity rate in the city on February 12 was 6 per cent, while the state average is 4.25 per cent.

However, the hospitalization rate among those above 18 years, who have tested positive for Covid 19, has increased to 15.3 per cent from 2.4 per cent, and the death rate too has gone up to 8.8 per cent from 0.1 per cent, since January.

Among children tested positive for Covid 19, the hospitalization rate has increased from 0.8 per cent to 2.3 per cent and the death rate too has increased from 0.1 per cent to 1.2 per cent since then.

The number of active cases on February 12 was 1,454 in Mysuru district, as against 12,526 cases on January 22.

When contacted, district health officer Dr K.H. Prasad said the fall in Covid cases was because of “herd immunity”, or the immunity among people against the virus has increased. As for the increase in death rate and hospitalization, he said that it was because of the pre-existing comorbidities suffered by the Covid patients.

At present, Mysuru has 1,020 active cases of Covid 19 among adults above 18 years of age. While 15 are in ICU with ventilator, 12 are in ICU, 67 are on oxygen support, 62 are on general beds at dedicated Covid hospitals, while the rest are isolated at home.