Karnataka reported 29,438 COVID-19 cases on April 24, including 17,342 cases in Bengaluru. This continued the trend of both the state and the capital city of Bengaluru (taken as Bengaluru Urban district) recording the highest single-day rises in the number of coronavirus cases. Bengaluru recorded 149 deaths among COVID-19 patients on Saturday. The city had recorded 124 deaths on Friday and recorded 147 deaths in the whole of March 2021.
The cases reported in Bengaluru Urban on Saturday took the total active cases in the city to 1,62,171, which is the highest among districts across India at present. The active cases across the state rose to 2,34,483.
Elsewhere in the state, districts near Bengaluru reported a high number of COVID-19 cases on Saturday. Tumakuru saw 1,559 new COVID-19 cases, Hassan 823, Kalaburagi 791, Ballari 731, Mandya 688, Bengaluru Rural 684, Mysuru 536 and Dakshina Kannada 517 — these were among the districts to report over 500 cases. This is the fourth day in a row that Tumakuru district reported over 1,000 cases.
The positivity rate in the state stood at 15.52% on Saturday, This is the percentage of COVID-19 tests that return positive. For example, if 100 people, who are suspected to have contracted the virus, are tested and only five persons test positive, then the test positivity rate is 5%.
The alarming rise in COVID-19 cases led to recommendations of a 14-day lockdown in the state from the members of the expert group advising the state government. Presently, a night and weekend curfew is in place in the state and non-essential shops remain closed even on weekdays.
Streets in Bengaluru and other towns in the state remained empty and shops except for pharmacies were shut on Saturday, the first day of the weekend curfew in the state.