UDUPI: In the highest single-day spike, Udupi district recorded 204 positive cases on Friday. However, the average daily growth of Covid-19 cases in the district is expected to come down from June 7. Officials heading the district’s response to the pandemic said that the Covid curve will flatten as results of 7,500 samples out of the 8,500 people who returned from outside the state (91 per cent from Maharashtra) arrived as on Friday.
People in Udupi were worried after the district recorded the highest number of cases in the state on June 3. Initially, the district was in the green zone with three positive cases. But with the arrival of people from Mumbai, the number began to escalate. As on Friday, the total number of cases in the district was 768. With 82 of them discharged, and one death reported on May 14, there are 685 active cases, the highest in the state.
The latest spike is attributed to test results of 2,000 samples arriving on Friday. Udupi DC G Jagadish told The New Indian Express that the positivity rate is at 10 per cent tested. The results of the final batch
of around 1,000 samples are likely to arrive on Saturday. From Sunday, such a high number of samples will not be sent for testing, he added.
“We will ramp up surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Infections or Influenza-like illnesses to detect hidden infections,’’ he said. Of the total 768 tested positive on Friday, 733 had a travel history to Mumbai. 17 who tested positive returned from the UAE, five from Telangana, three from Kerala and 10 local cases.