Covid cases surge in 9 Karnataka districts: Official

Bengaluru: Having the second highest number of active Covid-19 cases (1,07,737) in the country after Maharashtra, nine of the 30 districts across Karnataka reported a surge in Covid cases in September, an official said on Wednesday.

"More testing has shown that positive cases increased in nine districts, and reduced in 14 districts since the first week of September but remained steady in seven districts across the state," Karnataka Covid-19 war room in-charge Munish Moudgil told reporters here.

The nine districts are Bengaluru Urban, Ballari, Belagavi, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad, Hassan, Kalaburagi, Shivamogga and Udupi.

As the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, Bengaluru remained at the top, accounting for 40-45 per cent of the new cases in the southern state.

"Though the positivity rate was high in 19 districts in the first week, effective measures, including tracking, tracing, testing and treating, reduced it in 10 districts by the fourth week, as is evident from the data," said Moudgil, a senior IAS officer.

The state health department ramped up testing in the nine districts which have shown higher positive cases to cover more people.

"More positive cases are expected as we ramp up testing by three times a day across the state," said Moudgil.

Though the positivity rate per 100 tests is decreasing, the virus spread is increasing across the state. According to the state's latest health bulletin, a whopping 10,453 new cases were registered on a single day (Monday), taking its tally to 5,92,911 till date, including 1,07,737 active cases.

Bengaluru registered 4,868 fresh cases till Monday midnight, taking its Covid tally to 2,28,437, including 46,610 active cases.

Of the new cases in the districts, Hassan reported 475, Mysuru 414, Dakshina Kannada 362, Shivamogga 347, Udupi 319 and Ballari 313.