Karnataka on Thursday recorded 1,502 Covid-19 cases, its biggest single-day spike so far, with Bengaluru, the new epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, accounting for 889 new infections.
Dakshina Kannada and Mysuru came a distant second and third, with the two districts recording 90 and 68 cases respectively.
The state also saw 19 new deaths on Thursday, taking the death toll to 272.
Karnataka now has 9,406 active cases, just 594 short of breaching the 10,000-mark.
Health officials didn't provide details of the source of transmission for the cases reported in the state capital, which is seeing a huge spurt in cases.
Bengaluru's overall positivity rate stands at 5.33%, but what is of concern is that the city recorded a positivity rate of 11.89% over the past 10 days. Now, the city has 5,505 active cases while the death toll stands at 101.
In the last 24 hours, 37% of the new Covid-19 infections reported came from Bengaluru's south zone.
With the total number of cases standing at 18,016, the state Covid-19 war room projection about the state having 20,000 to 25,000 cases by August 15 may come true.
The state tested 16,210 samples on Thursday, which it has done before in a single day, so the surge cannot be attributed to increased testing.
The 19 who died hail from Bengaluru, Gadag, Ballari, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Koppal, Mysuru, Hassan, Tumkur, Kalaburagi, Belagavi and Uttara Kannada. They are aged between 31 and 75. All except nine had comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension.
As many as 161 are recuperating in the state's ICUs, with Bengaluru alone accounting for 113 cases. A total of 271 people were discharged on Thursday, bringing the total number of recoveries up to 8,334.
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