BENGALURU: The Covid pandemic claimed 21 lives in Karnataka on Friday, the highest number of deaths the state has seen in a single day, taking the toll to 293. The state also saw the highest number of positive cases for a day at 1,694, while taking the total to 19,710. Bengaluru added 994 cases, again the highest for the day, to its tally of 7,173 positive cases. As officials have not revealed the source of infection of people who test positive over the past three days, there have been fears of community transmission in the city.
Of the people who died, five were from Bengaluru Urban, three each from Chikkaballapur and Kalaburagi, two each from Vijayapura and Shivamogga and one each from Hassan, Davanagere, Raichur, Bidar and Bengaluru Rural. As on Friday, Karnataka had reported 19,710 cases, of which 10,608 (53.8%) were active. Of Bengaluru’s 7,173 cases, 6,297 (87.7%) were active.
Bengaluru has contributed 59.3% of the state’s total active cases. On the brighter side, 18,307 samples were tested on Friday, the highest for a single day. In all, 471 people were discharged, taking the total number of cured to 8,805.