New high: DK, Udupi account for 347 of the state’s 4k+ cases

Mangaluru/Udupi: The coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi registered a record cumulative single-day spike, with a staggering 347 Covid-19 cases being reported on Thursday. Of the total tally, Dakshina Kannada accounted for 238 cases, while Udupi’s share was 109. The sharp spike on Thursday pushed the total tally of Covid positive cases in Dakshina Kannada to 2,763, while the corresponding figure for Udupi rose to 1,895.
Meanwhile, six people in Dakshina Kannada succumbing to the novel coronavirus was confirmed on Thursday, a day after a three-member team from the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute conducted an audit of fatalities at the designated Covid hospital and other private healthcare institutions in the coastal district. “The team is expected to submit its report to the government soon,” Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh told TOI.
Of the six patients who died in the last in the last 72-hours up to Thursday, one was a 68-year-old man from Belagavi, while three others were from Mangaluru taluk, and Bantwal and Mulki taluks accounted for a fatality each. All the six patients had had comorbid conditions such as diabetes, severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), among others.
Health department personnel have been unable to locate the source of the infection among 73 of the 238 patients confirmed infected on Thursday, while 106 people who have tested positive had a history of influenza-like-illness, 17 had SARI, while 23 were primary contacts of previously infected patients and the remaining 19 had returned to the coastal district from other countries. “As many as 174 Covid patients were discharged on Thursday, and in all, 1,163 have recovered from the infection and sent home. The total number of active cases in the district now stands at 1,537,” Sindhu added.
Udupi DC G Jagadeesha said that Thursday’s surge had pushed the number of active cases in the district to 428. He was quick to add that 1,462 patients in the district had been discharged in Udupi as on July 16. “Most of the patients who were confirmed infected on Thursday - 49 are primary contacts, 30 are those with travel history, 17 had history of ILI and 2 SARI” Jagadeesha said.