The state’s novel coronavirus outbreak continued its downward spiral in the past seven days, with Karnataka registering 5.6% fewer cases this week than it did the previous week.
As per official data, the state recorded 8,639 cases last week, between 23 to 29 August. Out of these 1,262 new cases were recorded on Sunday. In comparison, Karnataka recorded 9,152 new cases the week before (16 to 22 August). At the same time, the number of tests being done increased by 16.7% last week, from 1.05 lakh tests conducted in the previous week to 1.22 lakh tests conducted last week.
In comparison to the seven-day overall decline recorded in the state, Bengaluru Urban actually showed a slight increase: a total of 2,250 new cases were found in last week, which is 5.4% higher than the 2,134 new cases found the week before.
On Sunday, 361 new cases were found in Bengaluru Urban. Although the city was being overshadowed in the number of new cases by Dakshina Kannada, it has once again assumed its place as the district with the highest number of daily new cases in Karnataka since August 22.
Dakshina Kannada came in second with 202 new cases on Sunday, followed by 96 in Udupi district and 86 each in Mysuru and Kodagu districts.
The state also discharged 1,384 people, which leaves Karnataka’s active caseload at: 18,758 cases. Since mid-August, it has been taking the state between three to four days to decrease the active caseload by a thousand people. The rate of decline was steeper in July, when it took between one to two days.
Health officials also announced 17 new Covid-19 deaths. Seven fatalities had happened on Saturday and one on Friday. One was a 49-year-old man who had died at home in Bengaluru on August 17 without ever being diagnosed and another was a 55-year-old-man who had been brought dead to a private hospital in the city on August 20.
The youngest of the new fatalities was a 26-year-old man who died at a private hospital in Dakshina Kannada on August 27. He had been suffering from symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), but had no recorded comorbidities. He died three days after being diagnosed with the disease.
Vaccination scenario
In the last seven days, the state administered 40.55 lakh doses, which increased the state’s first dose coverage to 62.24% and its second dose coverage to 20.05%. Owing to increased vaccine supplies, the state has been administering an average of 5.7 lakh doses daily.