Karnataka on high alert after crowd surge in Puneeth's funeral, bypolls

Two crowd-pulling events – by-polls and last rites of Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar in Bengaluru – have prompted the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to seek “aggressive testing” for tracing fresh cases of the coronavirus infection.

The TAC wants COVID testing to be ramped up and the state health machinery to actively look for cases of influenza, acute respiratory disorder and other associated ailments.

A TAC member told The Indian Express “The TAC had already recommended revision of daily targets in assembly constituencies (Sindgi, Hangal) where the bypolls were held. With crowds turning up outside the hospital, Sree Kanteerava Stadium, and for the funeral of Puneeth Rajkumar in Bengaluru, the risk of a fresh outbreak persists. Considering this, all symptomatic people in the city should be tested without fail over the next fortnight.”

Also read: Puneeth: the ‘Power Star’ who remained affable and humble

Karnataka reported 239 new cases on Tuesday (November 2) and five deaths with 8,370 active cases at present. The state’s total number of infections stands at 29,88,760 and death toll at 38,089. Bengaluru Urban has 139 new cases.

Till Monday, a total of 73,924 samples were tested in the state, including 64,418 RT-PCR tests, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined to 5.09 crore, the state health bulletin stated.

With the administration of 41,16,230 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 107.29 crore till Wednesday (November 3) morning.