Thirty new cases were reported in the State on Thursday, taking the total number of COVID-19 positive cases to 565. While the condition of 305 patients is stable, nine are in the ICU.
Of the new cases, Belagavi reported 14 and Bengaluru Urban 10. In Belagavi, 11 of the 14 are secondary contacts and three are primary contacts. While two cases were detected in Vijayapura, and one each was detected in Dakshina Kannada, Tumakuru, Davangere, and Kalaburagi.
According to the bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department, of the 10 cases in Bengaluru Urban, nine are from Padarayanapura and one is a SARI case. While two were detected through random testing, the rest are secondary contacts of patient-292, who tested positive on April 30. This patient was discharged on Thursday after recovery.
Through random tests
With Thursday’s cases, a total of 34 persons have tested positive from Padarayanapura alone. A health official deputed in this containment zone said three positive cases have been detected so far through random tests. “Of the 23 random tests done on Sunday, one tested positive and two of the 48 tests done on Tuesday tested positive on Thursday. Twenty-six more random samples were collected on Wednesday and their reports are awaited,” the official said.
The number of samples tested per day in the State has increased from 500 on April 14 to 4,752 on Thursday.
In north Karnataka
C.N. Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, who is the nodal officer for lab testing in the State’s COVID-19 task force, told The Hindu that sample testing would start in Vijayapura from Monday. “We are working on increasing the testing facilities in north Karnataka as Kalaburagi, Belagavi, Vijayapura, and Bagalkot are emerging as hotspots. Except Vijayapura, all the other three districts have government testing facilities,” he said.
