Coronavirus / 149 test COVID-19 +ve in K'taka in highest single-day rise; total nears 1,400

Bangluru: Karnataka recorded its biggest single-day spike of 149 new cases of coronavirus, taking the number of infections in the state to 1,395, as three more COVID-19 related fatalities were reported, pushing the death toll to 40, the health department said on Tuesday.

It said 113 out of these 149 patients are with inter-state travel history.

Mandya district alone reported 71 cases and all of them had returned from Mumbai and tested positive in quarantine.

"These cases unfortunately they don't have any certificate, so they have not gone through any test before arriving.. as we had permitted travel of people from other states, these cases have come.

Yesterday's government decision to restrict people coming in from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu for time being, it is a significant decision in this regard," Minister S Suresh Kumar, spokesperson for COVID-19 in the state, said.

Speaking to reporters here, Kumar said "we are at the 12th place in the country in terms of number of cases."

According to a bulletin by the state health department, as of May 19 evening, cumulatively 1,395 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 40 deaths and 543 discharges.

It said out of 811 active cases, 805 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while six are in ICU.

Thirteen patients, who have recovered, have been discharged on Tuesday.

Out of 149 new cases reported today- Mandya has registered 71, Davangere- 22, Kalaburagi-13, Shivamogga- 10, Bengaluru urban- six, Chikkamagaluru and Bagalkote- five each, Udupi and Uttara Kannada- four each, Hassan- 3, and one each from Vijayapura, Bidar, Gadag, Yadgir, Chitradurga and Raichur.

The three deaths include- a 61-year-old man from Ballari, who was diagnosed with SARI (severe acute respiratory infection) and had travel history to Bengaluru.

He was also suffering from IHD (Ischemic heart disease) with recent history of cardiac surgery.

He died today at a designated hospital in the district and tested positive for COVID-19, Kumar said.

Also, a 65-year-old man from Vijayapura, suffering from HTN (Hypertension), DM (Diabetes mellitus), and IHD was brought dead on May 18 to a designated hospital in the district and tested positive for COVID-19, the minister said.

A 54-year-old man from Bengaluru, suffering from IHD, was admitted to a private hospital in the city and died on May 18.His sample tested positive for COVID-19.

The Minister said "our current bed occupancy rate is 6.09 per cent, where as fatality rate 2.8 per cent."

Bengaluru urban district still tops the list of positive cases, with 246 infections, followed by Mandya 160 and Kalaburagi 127.

Among discharges too Bengaluru urban tops the list with 123 discharges, followed by Mysuru 88 and Belagavi 64.

A total of 1,58,599 samples were tested, out of which 6,936 were tested on Tuesday alone. So far 1,56,247 samples have reported as negative, and out of them 6,681 returned negative today, the department said.

As of today there are 46 laboratories operating in the state and out of them 28 are government and 18 private, Kumar said.

"According to rough estimate we can test over 8,000 cases per day. Our target is to have 60 labs by the end of this month with a capacity of 10,000 tests per day," he said.

In response to a question, the minister said from May 16 till today five trains have come to Bengaluru carrying 1,527 people and all of them have been screened.