“There is no link between lockdown relaxation and spike in positive cases in Karnataka,” said S Suresh Kumar, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister.

He told reporters, “If you see on the whole, the number of discharges is at 376 which are more than the new or active cases, which are at 346. Yes, there has been spurt or spike in positive cases, but all are in containment zones.”

The Minister said that in the last one week in Davangere, it is all due to two patients in Belagavi and Bagalkote, and today, it is due to one-two families in Bhatkal (Uttara Kannada district). “This is no cause to worry,” he added.

Cost per patient

On the cost incurred in treatment of patients, Suresh Kumar claimed as per the rough calculations by Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMRCI) so far, ₹4.74 crore has been spent by the government. The cost of treatment of 136 patients, when divided by capital and revenue expenditure, works out to ₹3.48 lakh per patient.

Currently, the State is testing close to 5,000 samples per day. To date, 98,081 samples have been tested. “Tomorrow (May 9), the State is expected to cross one lakh samples mark,” he said.

Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Commissioner, Karnataka Department of Health and Family Welfare, said that the department has undertaken an exercise to record training videos as part of capacity-building training program for all the stake holders to combat Covid-19.

New cases

Karnataka has reported its single day highest number of cases till date with 48 new positive cases on Friday. With this, the total number of cases in State stood at 753, which includes 376 discharges.

Of the 48 cases, Davangere recored 14 cases, Bhatkal (Dakshina Kannada) with 12 cases, Hirebagewadi (Belagavi) with 10 cases, Bengaluru Urban with seven cases, Chitradurga with three cases, and Ballari and Kudachi (Belagavi) recorded one case each.

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