Lauded ‘Bengaluru COVID-19 model’ falters as cases shoot up in city

In the last week of May, the Centre lauded the BS Yediyurappa-led Karnataka government for its efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. The state took cue from Kerala’s contact tracing model and used technology to the optimum to track and trace the patients’ history.

With the help of volunteers and strict lockdown norms in place, the civic administration in state capital Bengaluru were able to keep the infections low. The Centre recognised it as a model city and even advised other cities to follow the best practices.

“The success story of Bengaluru city can be attributed to the 3T strategy of trace, test and treat. The technology backbone was the 4th T which made this entire process extremely efficient and robust,” Amitabh Kant, chief executive of government think-tank, Niti Aayog, had said. “This was accompanied by aggressive containment and high levels of public adherence.”

Come July, the situation is totally different. The much-lauded ‘Bangalore COVID-19 model’ seems to have faltered with the state government relaxing lockdown restrictions to boost economic activities in the state that had come to a grinding halt for two months.

As of July 5, Karnataka is one among the states with high positivity rate and COVID-19 cases. And Bengaluru tops the list with a high fatality rate and COVID-cases in the state.

The state’s positivity rate, which was less than one per cent in May last week, jumped to 11.4 per cent on July 5.  The active COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru shot up from 114 on May 25 to 8,167 on July 5, accounting for almost 60 per cent of the state’s tally. The overall cases in the state stood at 23,474, of which 13,251 were active.

Related news: ‘Heavens won’t fall,’ tweets Bengaluru top cop on 33-hr lockdown

The fatality increased from nine to 145 in Bengaluru during the said period. About 372 people have succumbed to the disease across the state, as of July 5.

Experts and public health professionals attribute the rise in positive cases, particularly after June 26, to community transmission. This emerges from the fact that the pressure on the healthcare professionals and Asha workers increased in the wake of relaxing the lockdown norms and mismanagement by the government.

Tracing fails

The Centre, while appreciating the efforts of Karnataka, said the primary and secondary contacts in the state were being “meticulously traced” and put under strict quarantine.

Come July, the contact tracing reduced to just immediate family members. The secondary contacts identification wasn’t effective. The source of transmission of nearly 70 per cent of the cases in Bengaluru were under scrutiny as they could not find the source.

For instance, a patient with COVID-19 symptoms visited a private clinic and got treated for a week. However, the clinic failed to inform the authorities about him as per the norms. After developing breathing problems, the patient got admitted to a private hospital (Day 1) and was informed about his test result (positive) on Day 3. The civic body and healthcare staff assigned to him failed to call his immediate relatives until Day 5, until prompted.

Their tests, including that of his two family members who accompanied the patient to the hospital, were not done until Day 8. By the time the health department tested them, the private hospital doctors had already forced the family members to take back the positive patient home, citing “good breathing” and “lack of hospital beds”. They did not even test the patient for a negative result before discharging, as per the revised protocols.

Related news: Karnataka’s poor health infrastructure puts COVID patients, public in peril

On Day 12, the health department informed the immediate family members about the test results, after being pressurised. The contact tracing was reduced to mere four people in the family even as they claimed they had gone out to buy essentials, thus exposing themselves to others. Until the end, neither the hospital nor the health department informed (traced) the patient about how he contracted the virus.

This clearly indicates the failure of the healthcare system in containing the spread of the virus. When asked about it, an ASHA worker said it was due to an increase in the workload in the wake of rising cases. Several frontline workers tested positive and it added pressure on the government.

A week earlier, about 16 healthcare professionals — three doctors, six technicians, two ward attendants, and five nurses — contracted the coronavirus at Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, forcing the hospital to shut its outpatient ward for almost 10 days.

All these are indicative of “community transmission”, much like in Chennai. Jayadeva Institute director Dr CN Manjunath said that the state failed to test patients with mild symptoms, but focused only on ILI and SARI cases. He alerted the government and public about community transmission a week before the government accepted it.

Testing and treatment fail

Karnataka tested 13,000-14000 samples a day in May and it only increased to 17,000, as on date. In comparison, Tamil Nadu tests about 34,800 (more than double) samples while Maharashtra tests about 30,000 daily.

Besides, after the ICMR flagged faulty the test rapid antibody test kits that it had procured from China, Karnataka cancelled two such orders in April. The state is yet to decide on buying one lakh antigen test kits to speed up the detection of the disease.

In the meantime, the dedicated COVID hospitals ran out of beds and the state government sought private hospitals to pitch in and help. The government notified that patients with no symptoms should get home treated and requested them not to flood the hospitals.

Related news: COVID patient in Bengaluru dies waiting on road, ambulance comes 2 hrs later

Even as the administration ramped up facilities, a patient was left to die on the road, a private hospital denied treatment to its own nurse, and fellow citizens were made to run around, seeking admission in hospitals across the city.

Dr Taha Mateen, managing director of HBS Hospital in Bengaluru appealed to healthcare professionals, particularly doctors to jump in to help, highlighting the plight of hospitals.

“No doctors are willing to come and work. I have beds and ventilators. I have everything. But I don’t have doctors. I find them all on WhatsApp,” the doctor said as he appealed to fellow healthcare professionals to come and work. “It’s been a virtual bloodbath. Patients cannot find a room (bed) in Bangalore…”

Another lockdown?

Amid rising cases, the state government ruled out imposing another lockdown in the state capital. However, it amended quarantine norms and announced that anyone entering the state will be put under home quarantine.

Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said 3,331 beds in 72 private hospitals were dedicated for COVID-19 patients, while the civic body stated they had converted the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre into a coronavirus care centre with 10,100 beds.

A confident Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa even said that the state is prepared to handle the crisis and there was no need to panic. “We have to live with this virus. Cooperate with the government and we can control it. Be cautious and cooperate with the government,” he told NDTV on Monday.