Karnataka reports 50,210 fresh COVID-19 cases, 19 deaths

Bengaluru, Jan 23: Karnataka on Sunday reported a sharp increase in its COVID-19 upsurge with 50,210 fresh infections, along with 19 deaths, the health department said. Of the total new coronavirus cases, more than half 26,299 have been reported in Bengaluru only.

This the second time when the state has crossed 50,000 daily infections. On May 5, 2021, the state had reported 50,112 infections. However, back then the daily fatalities were quite high with 346 deaths on a single day, whereas on Sunday it was 19.

In its daily bulletin, the state's health department said 22,842 people were discharged, taking the total number of recoveries to 31,21,274. The active cases in the state stood at 3,57,796.

The infections on Sunday were mainly driven by Bengaluru, which contributed more than half of the total infections - 26,299. The city also reported eight deaths.

Other districts too had fresh cases including 4,359 in Mysuru, 1,963 in Tumakuru, 1,922 in Hassan, 955 in Dharwad, 947 in Udupi, 925 in Bengaluru Rural and 904 in Ballari.

There were deaths in 10 districts, including eight in Bengaluru and two each in Shivamogga and Tumakuru. There were zero fatalities in 21 districts.

The positivity rate for the day was 22.77 per cent and the case fatality rate was 0.03 per cent.

A total of 2,20,459 samples were tested in the state including 1,76,337 RT-PCR tests on Sunday, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 6.05 crore.

There were 76,373 inoculations done taking the total vaccinations so far to 9.33 crore, the department said.