Karnataka Lockdown: Bengaluru may record over 14,000 deaths by THIS month, experts say

Amid the deadly second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, a study by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has shown that Karnataka's COVID graph will start flattening after May 17.

For the unversed, Karnataka, currently is the second worst-hit COVID hit state in the country, second only to Maharashtra. Karnataka is recording nearly 50,000 new cases every day. On Sunday, the state saw 47,930 fresh infections and 490 fatalities which took the cumulative number of infections and death toll to 19.34 lakh and 18,776 respectively. 

On the other hand, Bengaluru Urban district reported 20,897 infections and 281 fatalities, which is the highest in the state. The city has so far detected a total of 9.50 lakh cases and 8,057 deaths. Meanwhile, the Department of Computational and Data Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) predicted that the death toll in Bengaluru could climb to 14,220 from 8,057 by June 11. 

The researchers who predicted the figure took into account the ongoing vaccination drive in the state and lockdown-like restrictions imposed across Karnataka into account to arrive at these numbers. Earlier, on May 6, Dr Giridhara R Babu, who is a professor and head of Life Course Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India had estimated that there will be a peak in Karnataka in 2 weeks. 

"I will not give a clear indication on the number of cases during the peak, but irrespective of the testing, we will see the peak in the next two weeks," he had said, India.com reported. "These (Triaging centres) should be set up every five kilometres. By doing this kind of enhanced triage by using existing manpower, we can tide over the crisis," he had claimed.