BENGALURU: The Covid-19 bulletin reflected a worrying trend for Karnataka — the highest-ever daily spike of 1,502 cases, and 889 cases in Bengaluru which have no contact or travel history. The State’s tally on Thursday stands at 18,016 cases, with 19 deaths pushing up the death toll to 272. One of Bengaluru’s cases includes a driver from the health and family welfare department. The driver was on leave for the past seven days, and tested positive when he resumed work on Wednesday. He was not in contact with Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey for at least 14 days.
“I have given my swab for testing and 5-6 others have also been tested. Those who were in close contact with the driver have been home-quarantined and will be tested after a week,” Pankaj Pandey told The New Indian Express.Other districts with a high number of cases on Thursday include Dakshina Kannada (90), Mysuru (68) and Ballari (65). The 19 deaths were recorded from Bengaluru, Gadag, Ballari, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Koppal, Mysuru, Hassan, Tumakuru, Kalaburagi and Belagavi. Nearly all of them suffered from fever, cough and breathlessness, and nine of them did not have any co-morbidities. While seven were Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) patients, five suffered from Influenza Like Illness (ILI).
Of the total cases, 143 were ILI patients, 15 had SARI, 216 were primary contacts, four were from containment zones, 47 had inter-district travel history, 25 were international travellers, and 67 were returnees from other states. Across Karnataka, 161 people are in the ICU, 113 of them in Bengaluru alone. The number of discharges was 271, taking the total discharges to 8,334, and leaving 9,406 active cases.