Karnataka recorded nine more deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday, taking its toll to 132. Andhra Pradesh reported another single-day spike of 491 cases and five deaths.
The sharp rise in cases continued in Telangana as 546 more tested positive, the highest rise till date. Total cases crossed the 7,000 mark at 7,072. Five more patients died taking the toll to 203.
The test positivity rate for the day was 17%. In all, 53,757 tests were conducted till June 20. With the goal of ‘50,000 tests in 10 days’, more cases were detected.
While three of the nine deaths in Karnataka were from Bengaluru Urban, two were from Bidar and one each from Davangere, Chikkamagaluru and Udupi. One death was reported in the “others” category as a 66-year-old female patient was brought dead to a hospital in Bidar from outside the State.
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In the last 11 days, the number of deaths in the State doubled. From 66 on June 9, the number rose to 133 (including a constable’s) on June 20. In the last five days alone, 45 deaths were reported at an average of nine per day.
As new cases, 416 were reported, taking the total to 8,697. This included 5,391 discharges and 3,170 active cases. The new cases included 116 inter-State and 22 international passengers. With 94 cases, Bengaluru continued to report the highest number for the second day and total positive cases in the city touched 1,076. A deputy director from the Information Department at Vidhana Soudha tested positive on Saturday.
Kerala reported 127 new cases of COVID-19. The government was relieved that in spite of cases going up every day, almost all were imported cases and those diagnosed were already in quarantine.
On Saturday, 123 of 127 new cases were imported. Four persons, including one health-care worker, acquired the infection through local transmission.
With 57 recoveries reported, there were 1,450 active COVID-19 cases in the State.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the State was able to contain local transmission and limit the number stemming from contact, which was proof of successful containment strategies. He said it also indicated that community transmission was not yet a possibility.
Of the 2,413 persons testing positive between May 4 and June 19, 2,165 were imported cases. On the issue of more than 50 people crossing to Tamil Nadu post-lockdown and testing positive in Tamil Nadu, indicating community spread (and included in bulletins issued by the Tamil Nadu Health authorities), Mr. Vijayan said the State had not received any official intimation.
For the first time, Andhra Pradesh tested 22,371 samples in a single day, the Health Department said.
The State tally was 8,452 and 4,240 were under treatment. The death toll was 101.
Breaking all rules: A woman driving a two-wheeler in the Red Zone area of Machavaram in Vijayawada on Saturday.
The worst-hit Krishna and Kurnool districts reported two more deaths each while Guntur recorded one fatality. The 77 deaths in these three districts accounted for 76% of the State toll.
Of the 8,452 cases, 6,620 cases were of locals and 1,506 of people from other States, migrant returnees and 326 foreign returnees.
Also, 785 persons who came to A.P. from Maharashtra during relaxation of lockdown were positive. Other entrants were from Tamil Nadu (297) and Telangana (212).
Also, 289 from Kuwait tested positive while 10 were from Saudi Arabia, seven from Qatar and 20 from Indonesia, South Africa, UAE, Kazakhstan, Oman, Bahrain and Sudan.
(With inputs from Vijayawada, Hyderabad, and Thiruvananthapuram bureaus)
