Just a day after Karnataka recorded over 25,000 coronavirus cases in a single day, the state has yet again witnessed a record number of COVID-19 patients in one day – 26,962 on April 23. Bengaluru, too, recorded the most infections in a single day. Bengaluru Urban district reported 16,662 COVID-19 cases on April 23, and also 124 deaths due to the disease on the same day. This is a sharp increase from the 68 deaths reported on Thursday in the city.
This brings the total number of active cases in Karnataka to 2,14,311 with Bengaluru accounting for 1,49,624 of them. Further, 4,727 people were discharged after getting treatment on Friday in the city. The state overall saw 8,697 discharges on the same day, and 190 deaths. A total of 1,128 COVID-19 patients are in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) across hospitals in Karnataka. In Bengaluru, of the total number of active cases, 246 patients are admitted to ICUs, the highest in the state.
In other parts of Karnataka, Tumakuru reported over 1,000 cases for the third day in a row. While Tumakuru recorded 1,004 cases on Friday, Kalaburagi recorded 742; Ballari, 695; Mysuru, 645; Bengaluru Rural, 588; Mandya, 519; Kolar, 504; and Dakshina Kannada, 485. These were among the districts reporting a high case load.
The test positivity rate in the state on Friday was at 15.19%. The positivity rate on tests is the percentage of COVID-19 tests that return positive. For instance, if 100 people, who suspected to have contracted the virus, are tested and only four persons test positive, then the test positivity rate is 4%. The fatality rate in in the state is 0.70%.
Karnataka has imposed strict curbs in some of its districts – including the capital city of Bengaluru – in a bid to control the surging coronavirus infections, till May 4. These measures include a weekend lockdown, and closing down metro services in the city on Saturday and Sundays.