3,000 COVID patients missing in Bengaluru, says minister

Karnataka's Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Wednesday said at least 3,000 COVID-19 infected people have gone missing from Bengaluru and switched off their phones. "These are the people spreading COVID-19," he said, adding that the police have been asked to trace them.

Bengaluru:Karnataka's Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Wednesday said at least 3,000 COVID-19 infected people have gone missing from Bengaluru and switched off their phones. "These are the people spreading COVID-19," he said, adding that the police have been asked to trace them.

"We are giving free medicines to people and these medicines can control 90 per cent of the cases. But, they have (COVID-infected people) switched off their mobile phones. They reach the hospital in a critical stage to desperately look for ICU beds. This is what is happening now," Ashoka said.

"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 their whereabouts," the minister said.

He appealed to COVID-infected people to keep their phones always switched so that tracing and subsequent procedures become easy and the state could overcome the crisis.

"I pray 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," he said.