Thirteen people in Karnataka tested positive for covid-19 on Tuesday, taking the state’s total over 100.
“Till date 101 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes 3 deaths & 8 discharges,” the state health department said in a statement.
The rise in numbers comes amid disturbing developments that hundreds of people could have potentially been infected by those who attended a religious congregation in Delhi.
Two patients out of the 101 in Karnataka are in intensive care, officials said.
According to the state health department, about 78 people associated with the Tablighi Jamaat, a religious congregation of about 2000 people in Nizamuddin in Delhi, have been tracked and are now under government supervised quarantine in Karnataka. The 78 includes people from other countries as well.
One 60-year old person from Tumakuru, who attended this congregation, died on 27 March due to covid-19.
According to the government, a total of around 300 people from the state are associated with this religious congregation that is likely to add to the rapidly growing numbers of covid-19 positive patients in the country.
Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai said that those associated with the congregation and other contacts are being traced. About 900 people from Tamil Nadu are also being tracked, according to the police in the neighbouring state.
Six people associated with the Tablighi Jamaat died in Telangana on Monday.
Karnataka, like other states, has made an appeal for people to call and inform authorities about their whereabouts to help contain the spread of the virus, that has so far affected over 1000 people in the country and half a million people worldwide.
Jawaid Akthar, additional chief secretary, department of health and family welfare said that the cluster in Mysuru is under control. One 35 year old pharmaceutical company executive is reported to have infected at least 11 people in the district so far and around a 1000 others are under home quarantine. Akthar said that the department was trying to find the source of the infection.
Three people from mineral rich Ballari tested positive, sparking fears that the infection was spreading across the state, as it was in the country.
Bengaluru continues to account for the highest number of cases with 45, of which seven are discharged on one dead. The numbers in Mysuru are rising quickly and now stands at 14 while Chikkaballpura, another cluster that can be sourced to one group of people, has nine cases so far. The coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada have eight cases each.
Akthar said that the department has given recommendations for empiric use of Hydroxy Chloroquine tablets for prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 and has instructed all the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that the health workers are provided with Hydoxy Chloroquine tablets.
Karnataka has tested a total of 3,535 persons and 3,297 of them have tested negative, the health department said.
