The increasing number of cases indicates that community transmission has begun, said C.N. Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, and nodal officer for labs and testing in Karnataka’s COVID-19 task force, on Saturday.

Karnataka recorded 11 deaths taking the toll to 191 on Saturday.

“This is the beginning of the peak [of cases] and there is a possibility of the number further going up. People should strictly follow precautions and maintain social distancing,” Dr. Manjunath said.

Spread was happening in work places apart from clusters and certain thickly populated wards in Bengaluru, Dr. Manjunath said. Premier healthcare institutions had been hit including Kidwai Hospital, NIMHANS and Victoria Hospital. Even in Jayadeva Institute 16 staffers including three doctors had tested positive, he said.

Karnataka saw another major spike in positive cases, with 918 on Saturday. Over 50% of these cases were from Bengaluru Urban, with 596 testing positive. Total cases touched 11,923. Of these, 7,287 patients had been discharged. Bengaluru Urban had been recording the highest number of cases since June 19.

With Saturday’s cases, the total in Bengaluru Urban touched 2,531.

The 11 deaths were apart from four non-COVID deaths. Three each were reported from Bengaluru Urban and Bidar, Kalaburgi reported two. Gadag, Ballari and Dharwad one each.

There were 11 deaths and 796 fresh cases in Andhra Pradesh, also a highest single-day spike. During the same period, 24,458 samples were tested, the Health department said. The toll mounted to 157 with Kurnool and Krishna districts reporting four new deaths each and East Godavari, West Godavari and Vizianagaram reporting one death each. It was the first for Vizianagaram.

The tally rose to 12,285 and 10,093 were cases of locals while 1,815 were people from other States and 377 from other countries.

With the arrival of more flights bringing expatriates home, the COVID-19 cases in Kerala showed a steady increase.

On Saturday new cases touched 195. Total number of patients under treatment in districts was close to 2,000 and with 102 more recoveries, active cases were 1,939.

Over 90% cases were imported but the rise in case numbers through local transmission in the community was worrying. Of 195 new cases, all except 15 cases were imported.

The 15 community-acquired cases had no apparent epidemiological link. Malappuram accounted for 10 of these, Kollam two, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kannur the remaining three cases.

(With inputs from Vijayawada and Thiruvananthapuram bureaus)