Karnataka and capital Bengaluru today recorded a steep spike in Covid cases. The state reported 2,052 new cases today, 34 per cent more than Wednesday’s tally of 1,531. The capital city clocked 505 cases, also 34 per cent more than Wednesday’s count of 376. According to the state bulletin, the number of active Covid cases in the state stands at 23,253.

The state’s positivity rate was 1.37 per cent on Thursday as 1,48,861 samples were tested. Karnataka recorded 35 deaths due to the infection over the past 24 hours. The state’s total Covid count has now crossed the 29 lakh mark and the cumulative death count is 36,491. As for vaccination, 1,00,224 doses of coronavirus vaccines were administered in the state till 3.30 pm today. This has taken the total number of doses administered to 2,97,01,032. Following a stringent lockdown put in place during the second wave of Covid infections during which people struggled to find hospital beds, medicines and oxygen cylinders, the Karnataka government relaxed the curbs as the cases dropped. From July 19, it also allowed cinema theatres to open and reduced the duration of night curfew by an hour. Colleges and universities were given the go-ahead to hold offline classes from July 26.

Capital Bengaluru is now back to its busy look with roads full of traffic at peak hours. Full seating has been allowed on buses and trains. Places of worship can conduct rituals now. The state has, meanwhile, had a change of guard with veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa stepping down as Chief Minister and Basavaraj Bommai taking charge.

News Source : Live Mint