Three months after the first COVID-19 case was reported in Bengaluru, the total tally in Karnataka touched 5,760 on Monday, with 308 new cases in 24 hours.

The first case was a software engineer in Bengaluru with travel history to the United States testing positive on March 8. Bengaluru’s tally currently stands at 501.

Monday also saw three deaths being reported in the State, taking the total number to 64 (besides two deaths of COVID-19 patients because of other causes).

Winning praise

The efforts of the State government and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike have received appreciation from the Central government as well for containing the spread of virus, even though there has been an escalation in numbers in some districts with the influx of returnees from other States. Six States and 47 cities have followed the approach and strategy adopted by the BBMP war room.

Hephsiba Rani Korlapati, special officer, BBMP COVID-19 war room, said BBMP’s preparedness, approach of leaving no case untraced, as well as micro-level planning and effective implementation helped the city keep numbers low.

According to the civic body officials, sealing of containment zones also helped. A total of 34.39% of the containment zones have returned to normalcy.

Rise in Kalaburagi

Of the 308 cases reported on Monday, 277 passengers have a travel history to other States, while one is a Maharashtra returnee. The largest number of cases were reported in Kalaburagi with 99 new cases. The second largest number of cases were reported in Yadgiri with 66 cases.

All three deaths reported on Monday were in Bengaluru Urban. One of the deceased was a 67-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with Influenza like Illnesses and had Ischemic heart disease and ventricular dysfunction. He was admitted to the hospital on June 4 and died on June 8.

A 48-year-old female patient who passed away also had a history of ILI. She had fever and breathlessness and was admitted to a private hospital on June 4 and died on June 5. The third patient was a 65-year-old patient diagnosed with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Illnesses and breathlessness. She was admitted on June 4 to a private hospital and died on June 5.