Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jun 8: Coronavirus, it appears has been entrenching itself deeper in the state. However, there has been a positive development. Throat swab test reports, which many a time, were received after the person completed the quarantine period and went home, will henceforth reach much faster.

Dr Manjunath, head of Jayadeva Hospital and member of COVID taskforce, said that from today, no throat swabs samples will be kept pending. He agreed that delay in test reports was creating problems in the state, but asserted that no samples will be kept pending hereafter.

"At present, Karnataka has 65 laboratories conducting these tests. Out of them, 40 belong to the government. More laboratories will join this list soon. Therefore, we will be able to clear the samples the same day. So far, samples of over 3.5 lac people were tested. Considering the number of positive results, this is less. In our state, most of the infected persons are asymptomatic," he explained.

Manjunath said that with the increase in the number of laboratories, the number of patients may also increase till the first week of July. He said that 80 percent of people who were to come from Maharashtra have already arrived. Therefore, only 20 percent more are yet to come. Therefore, in a month, the number of incoming people may drastically go down, he felt.

He said that there is a need to continue with precautionary measures for several months more. He noted that wearing of masks in itself reduces risk of infection by 90 per cent.