44 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Karnataka; total at 359

In a record spike for thestate, a staggering 44 new positive cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the number of infections to 359, the Health department said on Friday.With 44 new cases, this is the highest single day tally in the state so far, after 36 new cases were reported on Thursday."Today is a very negative day as far as the numbers are concerned, as there are 44 new cases," Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar told reporters."We have increased our capacity of testing and are testing more samples," he said.Pointing out that more than 17,000 tests have been conducted, Kumar said, earlier 500 tests per day were conducted while now it is nearly 2,000.He said, in terms of tests and its results Karnataka stands second in the country after Kerala."in Kerala one out of 44.16 tests is positive, while in Karnataka one out of 43.56 tests is positive."Additional Chief Secretary Health and Family Welfare department Jawaid Akhtar too said complete census testing of all secondary contacts is being done and this is sending a lot of positive cases."Even though the number (of positive) cases has gone up our positivity rate is 2.2-2.3 per cent.In this positivity rate, we are next only to Kerala ..it is good in a way that we are able to identify infections in secondary contacts and we will be able treat them now," he said."We have also kept adding different groups of patients like Influenza-like illness (ILI) history cases; patients in database with- non communicable diseases, TB, HIV, among others, widening the ambit testing," he said, adding that intensive surveillance and screening will be done to diagnose cases early.According to a bulletin, as of 5:00 PM on April 17, cumulatively 359 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 13 deaths and 88 discharged.It said of 258 active cases, 255 patients (including 1 pregnant woman) are in isolation at designated hospitals and their condition is stable while three are in ICU.Among the 44 new cases, except two (one with travel history Delhi and other with SARI) all others are the contacts of patients already tested positive.Eleven of the newly infected are from Nanjanagud in Mysuru, who are contacts of a single patient who had earlier tested positive, while other districts with large number of fresh cases are - ten from Bengaluru urban, seven from Hosapete in Ballari, five from Belagavi, three each from Malavalli in Mandya and Chikkaballapura.Four out of total 38 new cases are children.The bulletin said nine out of 359 cases detected and confirmed in Karnataka are transit passengers of Kerala.From across the state most number of infections have been reported in Bengaluru urban with 86 cases, followed by Mysuru 73 and Belagavi 41.Out of total 88 patients discharged,41 are from Bengaluru, 12 from Mysuru, eight each from Chikkaballapura, Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada.Among the dead are three each from Kalaburagi and Bengaluru urban, two from Chikkaballapura, and one each from Belagavi, Bagalkote, Vijapura, Gadag and Tumakuru.A total of 17,594 samples were tested so far, out of which 2,070 were tested on Friday alone.According to the bulletin, 14,606 samples have reported as negative, and of them 1,532 reported negative today.Responding to a question on the pharma company - Jubilant in Nanjanagudu, Mysuru district which is one of the large cluster of cases in the state, Kumar said 1705 people have been quarantined, 1225 have been tested, out of them 61 are positive, reports of 480 are still awaited.Meanwhile, with rising number of positive coronavirus cases in the state, the Karnataka government has decided to conduct tests on those displaying symptoms for the disease in districts that have not reported even a single case.Eight districts are COVID-19-free in the state.Noting that doctors were of the opinion that it was necessary for those suffering with fever, cold, breathing problem to immediately undergo COVID-19 test, the government said a special app is being developed for this purpose.In the wake of COVID-19 cases increasing during the last couple of days, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa held discussions with top officials and experts.The Department of Health and Family Welfare has issued guidelines for Testing of Pooled Samples using RT-PCR with advisory by ICMR.The department has issued circular regarding approval of COVID-19 testing in private laboratories with condition and fixed the cost test at Rs 2250 in Karnataka.On the advisory issued by ICMR, the department has also issued circular on Rapid antibody based blood test for COVID-19.According to Kumar, ICMR has purchased, 6,50,000 rapid tests kits for the country, of which Karnataka will get 12,400 kits."It will reach us this night, so from tomorrow it will be used for tests," he added.

44 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Karnataka; total at 359

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