As many as 36 new cases were reported from Karnataka on Saturday, of which 12 are those who have returned from Mumbai, Ahmedabad and also inter district travel. One patient has returned from Dubai. The rest are primary and secondary contacts of previously diagnosed patients.
Shivajinagar in Bengaluru reported all 14 of the city’s cases, and all the new cases are secondary contacts of Patient 653.
The state has reported 1,092 cases in total, nearly half of which are active cases and 13 are in the ICU. The state has tested more than 6,000 samples in the last 24 hours. There is still a yawning gap between the number of active cases, 559, and the number of discharged, 496.
Citing an example of people not following quarantine rules, Minister S Suresh Kumar, in-charge of COVID-19 briefings said P764, a a cook in Padarayanapura containment zone managed to go to Sira taluk in Tumakuru district and test positive there as the district administration tested all who were arriving from a red zone. Bengaluru is a red zone.
Asked how he went all the way to Sira as people in containment zones weren't allowed to venture out of their houses much less cross the district, he said, "There are people who are even scaling walls in containment zones to escape quarantine. We are doing our best to educate people."
The government has decided to withhold patient numbers - of those admitted in the ICU and discharged patients - making them public was intruding their privacy, said outgoing special officer for COVID-19 operations Manjunath J.
"The P number and age is enough in districts to discriminate and ostracise people. People would know that they have recovered from the disease and come back home. So henceforth, we are not divulging P numbers for those in the ICU and those who have been discharged," he said.