K’taka breaches 50k mark in daily Covid cases

Bengaluru Karnataka on Wednesday witnessed its highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases as the state registered a record 50,112 new infections in 24 hours, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department

Published on: May 6, 2021, 24:44:40 IST

By HT Correspondent

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Bengaluru Karnataka on Wednesday witnessed its highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases as the state registered a record 50,112 new infections in 24 hours, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department. The positivity rate in the state also reached a new high as it jumped to 32.28%.

The surge in cases took the state’s active case count closer to the 500,000 mark at 487,288 of which Bengaluru accounts for 313,314.

There were 346 fatalities reported in 24 hours, including 161 in Bengaluru. Only three districts--Kodagu,Koppala and Yadgir-- out of the 30 districts in Karnataka did not report any fatalities on Wednesday.

Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa has imposed lockdown-like restrictions across the state as a last ditch effort to contain the surge in the state.

“We are waiting for directions (from Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi),” Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa said on Wednesday.

The second wave in Karnataka is said to have begun around the first week of March when the state started to see a sharp spike. Bengaluru, which is one of the worst impacted regions in the country, bore the brunt of the second wave as the number of infections jumped from 6,813 in February to 31,886 in March to 338,360 in April. In the first five days of May, India’s IT capital has recorded nearly 88,000 new infections, according to data from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

The situation in other districts have also turned dire, going by government data. Experts have indicated that the next wave of infections may be seen in the other 29 districts of Karnataka, where medical infrastructure is far more inadequate than Bengaluru.

There were 1,009 new infections in Chikamagaluru, 1,529 in Dakshina Kannada, 1030 in Dharwada, 1604 in Hassan, 1097 in Kalaburagi, 1115 in Kolar, 1621 in Mandya, 2790 in Mysuru, 2335 in Tumakuru and 1655 in Udupi district, according to the health bulletin.

Chitradurga with 152 infections was the lowest in the state.

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