Karnataka reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases in a day for the first time in months on Tuesday with the state reporting 1,135 cases in the last 24 hours. Bengaluru city reported 710 of these cases. This takes the total active cases in the state to 9428 and in Bengaluru to 6,832.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials had held a virtual meeting last Friday in which BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad called for stringent measures to be implemented in the city to curb the rising COVID-19 cases. He also admitted to concerns over the delays in contact tracing of positive cases, which was reported to be taking up to four days.
Bengaluru accounted for 639 out of 1,000 cases reported in the state last week while as many as 15 districts in the state showed an increase in COVID-19 cases. There are currently six active containment zones in the city. They are in Inspire Livesuite PG, Yelahanka; OM Apparel factory, Bommanahalli; B Narayanpura government school, Mahadevapura; Navagruha apartment, Yelahanka; Government Medical and Engineering Hostel, Vidyapeeta; and Nrupatunga Road, T Dasarahalli.
Elsewhere, 58 cases were reported in Mysuru and 50 cases were reported in Dakshina Kannada district of the state. Six deaths were reported on Tuesday while over 100 patients are hospitalised in ICUs. Twenty-nine cases of the United Kingdom strain of the virus and three cases of the South Africa strain of the virus have been recorded in the state so far.
Fearing a second wave of the pandemic, health experts have urged the Karnataka government to strictly enforce restrictions in public places to contain the virus spread, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said on Monday.
"The state COVID-19 technical committee experts urged stringent enforcement of COVID norms in public places to contain positive cases, which have been rising of late," Yediyurappa told reporters after a review meeting of the situation in the state.
The state government has also said it would launch a slew of advertisements to create awareness on following protocol and increase the vaccination drive to contain the spread of the disease.