Karnataka continued to report a surge in COVID-19 cases with the state recording 25,795 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, of which 15,244 cases were recorded in Bengaluru. The figures showed a slight increase in the number of cases in the state after it reported 23,558 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
The rise in cases comes amid an influx of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, with a shortage of beds and oxygen being reported across the state and especially Bengaluru. Data provided by the Karnataka Health Department showed that 97% of the ICU beds allocated for COVID-19 patients in Bengaluru were occupied.
Crematoriums in the city also reported long queues for the third day running. Bengaluru reported 68 deaths among COVID-19 patients on Thursday, slightly lower than the 70 reported on Wednesday. In the previous two days, Bengaluru recorded 97 and 92 fatalities among COVID-19 patients.
The test positivity rate or TPR in the state was 15.87% on Thursday. This number is the percentage of COVID-19 tests that return positive, among a group of people tested. For instance, if 100 individuals suspected to have contracted COVID-19 are tested and two persons among them test positive, then the positivity rate is 2%.
A total of 1,62,534 tests were conducted in the state on Thursday, of which 1,45,478 were RT-PCR tests.
Elsewhere in Karnataka, Tumakuru district reported over 1,000 cases for the second day in a row. Tumakuru (1,231), Ballari (940), Mysuru (818), Hassan (689), Kalaburagi (659), Kolar (587), Dakshina Kannada (474), Raichur (433) and Bengaluru Rural (405), are all experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases.
On Thursday afternoon, police in different districts of Karnataka shut down non-essential shops which are not exempted in the curfew order issued by the state. There is now a night curfew as well as a weekend curfew in place in the state until May 4.