Bengaluru is on the verge of becoming first South Indian city to report 5k Covid deaths

Bengaluru: Even though Bengaluru has reported its highest ever daily Covid score of 8,155 new cases, it is now on the verge of becoming the first south Indian city to record 5,000 deaths. As is Wednesday, the city’s total tally has been 4,933. But experts are of the view that the city might have crossed the 5k mark because the health department does not report the exact number of deaths.

When compared with other cities, it is found out that Mumbai has the highest death toll with 12,093, followed by Delhi with 11,436 and Pune with 8,629 (as of April 13).

Chennai, which reported more Covid deaths than Bengaluru has now reported 4,344 deaths. In the meantime, Karnataka crossed 13k (13,046) deaths, therefore having the second-highest mortality numbers in the country. Karnataka is at the top in terms of deaths in South India as compared to neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu 12,970, Andhra Pradesh 7,321, Kerala 4,814 and Telangana 1,780.

Among the major cities, the case fatality rate (CFR) is the lowest in Bengaluru even though the absolute numbers are more.

“During the initial Covid outbreak, Bengaluru was considered as a textbook case in Covid control. Many were citing Bengaluru as an example of how to curb Covid deaths. However, the city has been seeing a constant rise in Covid deaths which is a serious cause of worry. Now, our biggest concern is that with an increase in Covid cases, there may be a shortage of beds. This can result in more deaths as people may not get beds in hospitals immediately and we may see deaths happening on the way to hospitals or in homes”, a health expert said.

Bengaluru is now fourth in the number of overall Covid cases. Delhi has 7.5 lakh Covid cases, Pune 5.4 lakh, and Mumbai 5.35 lakh. Bengaluru south has reported 20 per cent of the covid cases which is a major concern, followed by west (16 per cent), east (15 per cent), Bommanahalli (14 per cent), Mahadevapura (13 per cent), RR Nagar (10 per cent), Yelahanka (8 per cent) and Dasarahalli (4 per cent). Bellandur, Shantala Nagar, RR Nagar, HSR layout, Arakere, Vidyaranyapura, Horamavu, Hagadur, Doddanekkundi and Hemmigepura are the top ten wards witnessing the maximum number of Covid cases in the city. While, the lowest cases are reported from Kempapura Agrahara, Padarayanapura, JJ Nagar, DJ Halli and Muneshwara Nagar

A month ago, the recovery rate was nearly 97 per cent which has now decreased to 87.35 per cent. “We are yet to see big recoveries as many are undergoing treatment and few people are being discharged from hospitals. It will take a while before the discharges increase and only when the recovery rate will improve”, said a BBMP official.

Queue at crematorium

As the number of deaths has increased in the city, it saw many ambulances waiting with bodies of Covid patients to be cremated/buried. On Wednesday, there was a long queue of ambulances at Yelahanka crematorium and the family members had to wait for many hours to bid adieu to their loved ones.