Civic chief pulls up officials for laxity in testing, contact tracing

‘Data-based intervention in testing and vaccination key to curb second wave’

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad pulled up health officials for laxity in testing and contact tracing, even as a second wave of COVID-19 has hit the city. “There are gaps in targeted testing and vaccination in the city, without which it will be tough to combat the second wave. Data-based intervention is the need of the hour,” Mr. Prasad said in a video conference with all health officials of the city on Monday. “Positivity rate among ILI-SARI cases being reported from private hospitals is 40%, while it is around 5% in the tests we are carrying out, clearly showing we are not doing targeted testing. Wards reporting zero cases and those reporting hundreds of cases a day, both are presently testing almost the same number of people. This will only waste our resources,” he said.