Karnataka reported the highest single day spike with 2,798 cases reported on Saturday and a record 70 deaths taking the death toll to 613. Bengaluru alone accounted for 1,533 cases and 23 deaths.
Despite the high number of deaths, Medical Education Minister K Sudhkar claimed that the fatality rate in the state was 1.69% and 1.35% in Bengaluru.
"It is still less than the national average of 3% and world average of 4.5%. Tuberculosis takes two lives every three minutes. There is no need to panic so much about Corona," he said. For the first time, as many as 20,587 samples were tested in the state on a day. A total of 890 people were discharged from hospitals and 404 recovered in Bengaluru.
There are 504 people in the ICU out of whom 322 are in Bengaluru alone. The total number of active cases in the state is 20,883 and the total number of positive cases are 36,216.
The government revised its testing protocol on Saturday. To improve turnaround time of tests, for samples that come under the category 'A', that is, those who are symptomatic and are primary contacts, the tests will be conducted individually. However, for those who fall under category 'B', that is, international travellers and asymptomatic individuals, pooled testing method will be used (maximum five samples only).
Dead bodies are to be tested using TrueNAT and CBNAAT "on priority" when tests are available. If unavailable, individual tests are to be conducted so that results are available within hours.