Karnataka logs 8,626 new COVID-19 cases; total cases breach five lakh mark

Total number of COVID-19 infections in Karnataka breached the five lakh mark on Friday, as the state reported 8,626 new cases and 179 related fatalities, taking the death toll to 7,808, the Health department said.

The day also saw the number of recoveries outnumbering new infections, with 10,949 patients getting discharged after recovery.

Out of 8,626 fresh cases reported on Friday, 3,623 cases were from Bengaluru Urban alone.

As of September 18 evening, cumulatively 5,02,982 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 7,808 deaths and 3,94,026 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 1,01,129 active cases, as many as 1,00,315 patients were in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 814 were in ICU.

As many as 37 out of total 179 deaths reported on Friday are from Bengaluru Urban, followed by Ballari (25), Shivamogga (18), Mysuru (17), Dakshina Kannada (11), Dharwad (9), Belagavi and Koppal (8), Bengaluru Rural (7), Haveri and Kalaburagi (6), Udupi (5), Bagalkote, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Tumakuru and Uttara Kannada (3), Gadag and Mandya (2), and Hassan, Raichur and Vijayapura (1).

Most of the dead are either with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI).

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 3,623, followed by Mysuru (600), Udupi (493), Dakshina Kannada (456), Ballari (296), Shivamogga (257), Belagavi (221), Tumakuru (206), Bagalkote (206), followed by others.

Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 1,87,705 infections, followed by Mysuru (28,677) and Ballari (28,485).

Among discharges too, Bengaluru Urban tops with a total of 1,43,198, followed by Ballari (23,317) and Mysuru (22,414).

A total of 41,15,783 samples were tested so far, out of which 57,470 were tested on Friday alone.

Among the samples tested today, 21,368 were rapid antigen tests.