Karnataka may have 25,000 corona cases by Aug 15: Official

With more than 9,000 coronavirus cases and recording an increase with each passing day, Karnataka is projected to have up to 25,000 positive cases by August 15, a senior official said on Monday.

"If the daily growth rate of cases is 3 per cent, then the active cases will reach 17,000. If the daily growth rate is 4 per cent, then it will be 20,000-25,000 over the next 50-60 days," said Karnataka State Covid War Room Director Munish Moudgil in a statement here.

With 453 new cases reported on Sunday, the southern state''s total tally had shot up to 9,150, including 3,391 active cases. As many as 225 patients were discharged, taking the total cured patients to 5,618.

Admitting that it was difficult to project the number of positive cases accurately beyond 15-20 days, Moudgil said the scenario depended on the behaviour of individual citizens, post-opening up and actions the state government took in the coming days.

Though Moudgil earlier projected about 10,000 cases by July-end, the state has already crossed the 9,000-mark on June 21.

"Effort to reduce the growth rate will exponentially reduce the number of cases. Conversely, any slip-up makes us pay heavily," asserted Moudgil.

In this context, the senior IAS officer said citizens could make a major difference by wearing masks, wash hands, and observe social distancing.

"We need to trace all contacts of every patient within 24 hours and quarantine them; quarantine for 14 days every inter-state arrival and test more in quantity and quality of vulnerable and infectious groups," Moudgil added.