Covid-19: Karnataka records highest single-day rise in positive cases

The Karnataka government on Thursday said 36 people tested positive, marking the highest single-day rise so far in the state. A 66-year old man from Bengaluru also died late on Wednesday, taking the total casualty to 13. This is the seventh casualty in around 48 hours.

“As of 5:00 PM of 16 April 2020, Cumulatively 315 covid-19 positive cases have

been confirmed in the state, it includes 13 deaths & 82 discharges,” the health department said in its daily bulletin.

“Patient number 195, 66 years male from Bangalore, covid-19 positive died on 15/04/2020 in Victoria Hospital. This is the 13th covid-19 death in Karnataka," the health department of health and family welfare, government of Karnataka said on Thursday.

Authorities in Karnataka, however, say that the situation is well within control in the state, where the positivity rate is 2.30% as against the national average of around 4.3%.

The rise in the number of cases could force the BS Yediyurappa-led government to rethink partial lifting of the lockdown post 20 April.

Bengaluru has reported five new cases, Belagavi reported 17 and Vijayapura saw seven new covid-19 positive cases on Thursday.

A total of 17 cases have been reported from two families in Vijayapura, about 480 kms from Bengaluru, that until a few days ago was considered a ‘corona-free’ district.

The cluster in Mysuru has increased to 49 while at least 46 people linked to Tablighi Jamaat, a religious congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin, have tested positive.

The state government has introduced five mobile vans to help increase the number of testing in the state that now stands at 13724, of which 13074 have tested negative.

The central government on Wednesday released guidelines for partial lifting of the lockdown, and Karnataka along with some other states, plans to execute these rules in a manner that allows resuming some economic activities as well as containing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

S.Suresh Kumar, Karnataka’s primary and secondary education minister on Thursday said that chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa had held meetings on the partial lifting of the lockdown and it would vary from region to region. “It will be clear by tomorrow (Friday),” he said.