ILI contributes to fresh COVID-19 cases in city

Many of the 17 COVID-19 cases reported on Thursday had Influenza-Like Illness (ILI), while the city also recorded two deaths on Thursday.

The number of people having ILI contracting COVID-19 has seen a sharp increase in the recent days owing to the change in weather and surveillance measure.

Since the onset of the monsoon, 44 ILI-COVID-19 cases were discovered in the BBMP limits, six on Thursday alone. These include a 58-year-old man from Valmikinagar who had fever and cough, a 23-year-old woman in full-term pregnancy from Banashankari 2nd Stage, and a 44-year-old man from Mysuru Road.

Health Commissioner Pankaj Pandey explained that, as per the data, 0.3% of people with ILI test positive for COVID-19.

As of June 3,868 ILI cases had been reported across the state by medical institutions, including fever clinics. Among these, 452 cases are discovered in Bengaluru Urban.

Two of the latest COVID-19 casualties disclosed on Thursday also had ILI symptoms. One was a 35-year-old man and a resident of RT Nagar, who had been admitted to Victoria Hospital on June 7 with ILI. The health data also showed that he was a known case of chronic liver disease. He reportedly died on Wednesday.

The other patient is a 60-year-old former inhabitant of Bamboo Bazaar, who succumbed to COVID-19 on Thursday. The data shows that in addition to having ILI, he also had diabetes and Ischemic Heart Disease.

Three more deaths were indicated as having happened on Thursday, as per a document from Victoria Hospital, but the information could not be corroborated as health officers could not be reached for comment.

The rising number of deaths prompted Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar to call on elderly people with symptoms and those with ILI symptoms to visit fever clinics immediately. “In many cases, people are coming to hospital at a very advanced stage of infection. Effective treatment is possible only if people get treatment at an early stage,” he said.

11 cases on Thursday

The remaining 11 cases reported from the city on Thursday include a 25-year-old pregnant mother from Padarayanpura who tested positive after delivering her baby at Vani Villas Hospital. The tally also includes two interstate travellers from Tamil Nadu, three from Maharashtra, a person with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), and a primary contact of a 32-year-old woman from Anjanappa Garden who also had ILI.

Quarantine quandary

While the city has a record number of containment zones in 113 of the 198 wards, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said the changed definition has made them less daunting.

“Earlier, the entire ward or the one-kilometre surrounding area of an infected person’s house was being considered as a containment zone. Now, the definition of a containment zone has been revised to confine it only to the house of an infected person. So, even if we have 60 containment zones in a city with a population of 1.2 crore, it is not something we should panic about.”

He added that 800 teams will be formed under the Palike to ensure home quarantine norms are being adhered to.

The government is also reportedly planning to convert large stadiums into quarantine centres. On the issue of non-COVID patients getting treatment, Sudhakar said Bowring Hospital will be opened to treat them.