BENGALURU: Karnataka on Sunday reported just eight Covid-19 deaths, the lowest since April 2 and 3 when six patients were reported dead on each day.
Of the eight deaths, five are from Bengaluru, while the remaining three are from Mysuru, Belagavi and Dakshina Kannada.
All the deceased are women aged between 47 and 81.
While five of them had Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), three had Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and all the deaths occurred at designated or private hospitals.
However, despite the low deaths, the mortality rate has remained constant at 1.26% for exactly a month.
The mortality rate had touched a low of 0.96%, much to the relief of health department officials and experts, who have been aiming to keep the rate below one per cent to keep fatalities at the minimum.
Health officials attributed the mortality rate remaining constant at 1.26% to fewer numbers testing positive, compared to a month ago, and explained that the mortality rate is calculated as the percentage of deaths to the total number infected.
This is also evident from the fact that the positivity rate (number of people testing positive per 100 tests) during the second wave of the pandemic has been constantly on the decline since June 4, when the rate was 8.81%.
As on Sunday, the positivity rate fell to 6.66%, although the lowest positivity rate through the pandemic was 4.63% as on April 4 this year, after which it started moving relentlessly upwards to 8.81 per cent, only to start falling to Sunday’s figure.
While 8.81% is the peak of positivity rate in the second wave, it was a much higher 12.64% on September 27, in the first wave of the pandemic — but Covid testing was much lower in comparison to the second wave.
Karnataka on Sunday also reached peak recovery rate, at 98.14% — the highest through the pandemic.
The peak recovery rate during the first wave was 98.06% on January 30 this year, when the first wave was rapidly waning.
Bengaluru, too, reached its highest recovery rate of 98.12%, and is likely to go up further in the days to come.
However, the state capital’s mortality rate is 1.29%, which is a few notches higher than Karnataka’s, and has remained constant for almost two months since July 9.