India Coronavirus numbers explained: Karnataka crosses Gujarat, now has fourth biggest caseload

Migrants leave Bengaluru after authorities announced a lockdown due to the surge in Covid-19 cases on Monday, July 13, 2020. (PTI Photo: Shailendra Bhojak)

India Coronavirus Cases Numbers: On Tuesday, Karnataka overtook Gujarat to become the state with the fourth highest caseload of novel Coronavirus infections in the country. The state added about 2,500 new cases, and now has over 44,000 infections.

Karnataka, the fastest growing state in the country right now, has seen a very sharp rise in its Coronavirus numbers. In the two weeks of this month, the state has added almost 29,000 new cases, an average of more than 2,000 per day. Just a week prior to that, it was detecting between 350 and 450 cases every day.

Karnataka’s growth rate is 7.36 per cent, the highest in the country.

The state government says one of the reasons for the steep rise has been more focussed and targeted testing of primary and secondary contacts of already infected persons. The state has also increased its testing numbers during this period. Karnataka was testing between 12,000 and 14,000 samples every day. That has increased to more than 20,000 samples now. On Tuesday, more than 23,000 samples were tested.

Increased testing and efficient contact tracing can help in finding infected persons at an early stage, and their isolation can contain the transmission of the virus to other people. While it does lead to rise in the number of cases in the short run, over a longer period, it can help in slowing down the transmission rate. This is what seems to be happening in Delhi right now. The city had seen an explosion in the number of Coronavirus cases in about three weeks ago, due to increased testing and improved contact tracing. But the surge is now over, and Delhi is the fastest-improving state right now, its growth rate having dropped below 1.65 per cent (7-day compounded daily growth rate).

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Daily tests in Karnataka. On Tuesday, more than 23,000 samples were tested.

Karnataka’s growth rate, on the other hand, is 7.36 per cent, the highest in the country. It is the only state with a doubling time of less than ten days. The national doubling time of cases right now is more than 21 days.

The bulk of the cases in the Karntaka, almost 50 per cent, is concentrated in Bengaluru. The city went into a seven-day complete lockdown from Tuesday evening.

Karnataka seems to be following a Delhi-like trajectory in terms of deaths as well. The mortality figures have shot up in the state in the last couple of weeks. At that time, the state used to report about 10-12 deaths every day, now it is reporting over 60 deaths. On Tuesday, the state counted 87 deaths, the highest so far in a single day. Delhi death numbers had risen similarly sharply but have come down now.

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Andhra Pradesh is the other state which is growing at a very fast pace. It reported almost 2,000 cases on Tuesday, and climbed up to the eighth position among states with highest caseloads. It has over 33,000 infections till now

Top ten states with maximum caseload:

Outside of the top ten states, Bihar and Assam are experiencing very high growth rates right now. Both the states reported more than 1,000 cases on Tuesday, which, in Assam’s case, was for the first time ever. Bihar has reported almost 6,500 new cases in the last one week, and now has a total of around 19,000 cases. The state has brought back lockdown restrictions from Tuesday in a bid to contain the spread.

Assam, which already has lockdown in place in Guwahati and some surrounding areas, has added more than 5,200 cases in the last one week. It has over 17,800 infections. Odisha, also in the same league, has reported more than 3,500 cases in the last one week.

More than 29,000 cases were detected across the country on Tuesday, July 14.

More than 29,000 cases were detected across the country on Tuesday, taking the total number of infected people to 9.36 lakh, out of which more than 5.92 lakh have already recovered. As many as 582 deaths were reported on Tuesday.