Over 3000 COVID patients go missing, phones switched off

Adding more trouble to the already ongoing COVID crisis, over 3,000 infected patients have gone missing in Bengaluru and many have switched off their phones, Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka said that the government has asked the police to trace them as soon as possible. He claimed that the missing people are spreading the disease.

The development comes as Karnataka on Wednesday recorded its highest single-day spike of 39,047 cases and 229 deaths, with Bengaluru Urban logging 22,596 of those infections.

"I feel that at least 2,000 to 3,000 people in Bengaluru have switched off their phones and left their houses. We don't know where they have gone," State Revenue minister said.

Appealing to the infected people to keep their phones switched on, Ashoka said police have been asked to track them.

"I request to them with folded hands that covid cases will only increase due to this (behaviour). It is wrong when you reach for ICU beds at the last moment," the minister said.

Meanwhile, India reported 3.79 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, its sharpest spike since the pandemic first gripped the country last year. With this the total caseload rose to 1.8 crore. With 3,645 deaths, the death toll surged to 2.04 lakh.

India has been seeing over 3 lakh new cases every day for over a week now. The country first topped the 300,000 mark on April 22 when 314,835 cases tested positive.

India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people became the fourth nation on Wednesday to cross 200,000 deaths due to Covid-19 infection, after the United States, Brazil and Mexico.