Bengaluru: In a major cause of worry, as many as 3,338 people infected with COVID-19 are untraceable in Bengaluru amidst a massive search to trace them, authorities have said. The number accounts for a whooping 7 per cent of total coronavirus positive cases in Bangalore city.
The alarming announcement comes at a time when the IT capital struggles with an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases over the past couple of weeks. The number of cases have gone up by nearly 27,000 in the last 14 days from about 16,000.
Bengaluru accounts for almost half the cases in the state.
Health authorities say they have not been able to trace the missing coronavirus patients despite best efforts.
“We could trace some of the positive patients with the help of police but 3,338 are still untraceable. Some of them provided wrong mobile number and address at the time of giving samples. They disappeared after getting positive results,” said N Manjunath Prasad, commissioner of the city’s civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Authorities say they have no means to track their activity. Whether they have quarantined themselves after their samples tested positive, nobody knows.
“We have to ensure that all the infected persons have to be traced and quarantined. We have prioritised it so that they could be traced and isolated,” said the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Ashwat Narayan.
Reacting to the debacle, authorities have decided to ask for government-issued identity cards and verify mobile numbers before collecting samples for coronavirus tests.
Meanwhile, Saturday, the city witnessed 2,036 new cases, increasing Bengaluru Urban’s total tally to 43,503, including 31,882 active cases.
The city accounts for 58 per cent of all the active cases in the state.
Belagavi accounted for 341 new cases, followed by Ballari with 222 new cases, Dakshina Kannada had 218 cases, Mysuru reported 187 new Coronavirus cases and Kalaburagi accounts for 183 fresh cases.
On a positive note, 2,403 patients were cured and discharged in the past 24 hours, increasing the total such cases to 33,750. Of the total cases, 55,388 are still active. The number of patients in ICUs declined to 611.
While, Karnataka reported 5,072 new Coronavirus cases in a 24- hour period, taking the state’s total tally to 90,942, even as 72 more patients succumbed to the virus, officials said Saturday.
The state’s death toll now stands at 1,796, including Bengaluru’s 862 positive cases.
PNN/Agencies