Three days after clocking over 4,000, Karnataka’s tally of COVID-19 positive cases touched 5,213 on Saturday, with 378 new cases. Of them, 333 are inter-State and eight international travellers. As many as 329 of the inter-State travellers are from Maharashtra.

Two more persons from containment zones in Bidar and Vijayapura also succumbed to the infection, taking the death toll in the State to 59, apart from two non-COVID deaths.

One of them was a 55-year-old female patient from Bidar diagnosed with SARI and other was an 82-year-old female patient from Vijayapura with several comorbidities. Saturday also saw a record number of discharges with 280 persons recovering. With a total of 1,968 discharges, the State now has 3,184 active cases.

Maharashtra returnees continued to haunt Udupi and with 121 cases, this coastal district recorded the highest number of cases for the third consecutive day. With this, Udupi now has 785 active cases. Yadgir follows Udupi with 103 new cases. While Kalaburagi recorded 69 cases, Dakshina Kannada saw 24, and Bengaluru Urban 18 cases.

The number of cases increased by 1,141 in four days from May 31 till June 3. Thereafter, in the next three days [from June 3 till June 6], the number has increased by 1,150.

With 96% of the total active cases in the State being asymptomatic, the Health Department has submitted a proposal to the State Task Force, headed by the Chief Secretary, that even asymptomatic persons from Maharashtra should be tested as long as possible.

The department had done away with the previously mandatory COVID-19 test for asymptomatic individuals from June 1.

Moreover, asymptomatic individuals have also been exempted from institutional quarantine. “With asymptomatic cases having become a cause of concern among the community, we have now proposed to the government that asymptomatic Maharashtra returnees should also be tested. The task force will take a call on that on Monday,” Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey told The Hindu.