Articles by Sandhya Bhat

India is in the grip of a second wave of COVID-19. What's more, a new double mutated strain of SARS CoV2 has been detected. This is in addition to the Brazilian, South African and the UK strains. Reports of re-infection and positive cases among vaccinated people are coming in from various parts of the country. The new strain(s) are more infectious and affect a younger population. Cases of children being infected are being recorded. Ominously, the new COVID cases may not be detected by routine RT-PCR tests. The R-value is increasing (R-value is the reproductive value which indicates how many others…

In the midst of a second wave, the daily Covid positive cases in Bengaluru are touching record high numbers. The number of cases were 14,738 on Thursday alone. Hospitals and health care centers are getting overwhelmed. Stories of people struggling to get hospital beds are rising. Social media, especially micro-blogging sites like Twitter are seeing an increasing number of posts from individuals seeking help for a hospital bed. This explainer provides information on testing, when to hospitalise and how to find hospital beds. When to test for Covid Covid Test can be done at the nearest PHC, private clinic or…

With the rising number of COVID cases in Karnataka crossing over 6,000 per day, of which over 4,000 cases per day are in Bengaluru itself, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has been organising a series of meetings with various Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to seek support in contact tracing and improving the reach of administering COVID vaccines. On April 1, the central government extended vaccination for people above 45 years, irrespective of whether they have co-morbidities.  On April 2, during an interaction with the BBMP Chief Commissioner and Commissioner for Health, an overwhelming request by the RWAs was to conduct vaccination…

For the third time in the past five months, ESCOMs (electricity supply companies) in the state have sought an increase in power tariff,  to make up for a revenue gap of Rs 3,556 crore.  The hike will be a double whammy, as the BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) has said that a hike in water charges will be inevitable (BWSSB spends Rs 70-80 crore of its Rs 115 crore revenue on electricity charges). While the power hike pinches one and all, it is particularly so for apartment complexes. Besides personal consumption, residents in apartment complexes also share the…