3,000 COVID patients gone 'missing' in Bengaluru: Minister

Bengaluru: Amid surging COVID-19 cases in the State, Revenue Minister R Ashoka claimed on Wednesday most infected people have switched off their phones and about 3,000 of them who have gone 'missing' from Bengaluru are spreading the disease.

Police have been asked to trace them, the minister told reporters. "We are giving free medicines to the people, which can control 90 per cent of cases, but they have (COVID infected people) switched off their mobile phones. They reach the hospital in a critical stage to desperately look for the ICU beds.This is what is happening now," Ashoka said.

He said most of those infected with COVID have switched off their phones and are not letting people know about their whereabouts, which is making things difficult. "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," the minister added. Appealing to the infected people to keep their phones switched on, Ashoka said police have been asked to track them. "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," the minister said. The government has imposed a lockdown for 14 days restricting unnecessary movement of people starting from Tuesday night to contain COVID cases, which is rising at an alarming proportion. More than 30,000 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported on Tuesday including over 17,000 in Bengaluru while the active cases have exceeded three lakh in the state of which two lakh are in the state capital.