Karnataka Covid deaths rose to 114, following 12 patients succumbing to the virus while 210 new cases raised the state's tally to 7,944, an official said on Thursday.
"New cases reported from Wednesday 5 p.m. to Thursday 5 p.m., 210, Thursday's deaths, 12," said a health official.
In the past 24 hours, eight patients died in Bengaluru Urban and one each in Bidar, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi and Koppal.
Accounting for 51 deaths, Bengaluru is leading the virus toll in the southern state.
Among the 12 deaths, three persons below the age of 40 died in the city.
A 31-year-old city youngster diagnosed with influenza like illness (ILI) and complaining of cough got admitted to a designated hospital last Saturday. However, he died on Thursday.
Similarly, a 39-year-old man with similar medical conditions also succumbed to the virus from the city.
Meanwhile, bucking the daily trend, contacts of earlier cases contracting the virus outnumbered domestic returnee infections on Thursday.
As many as 115 contacts of earlier cases turned positive, constituting 55 per cent of the cases, while domestic returnees accounted for 58 or 28 per cent of the cases.
There were 21 positive cases with international travel history, 20 from the United Arab Emirates and one from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, cases spiked in Ballari, Kalaburagi, Dakshina Kannada, Ramanagara, Bengaluru Urban, Yadgir, Mandya, Bidar and Gadag.
Among the new cases, Ballari and Kalaburagi contributed 48 cases each, followed by Dakshina Kannada (23), Ramanagara (21), Bengaluru Urban (17), Yadgir (8), Mandya (7), Bidar (6), Gadag (5), Raichur, Hassan and Dharwad (4 each), Davangere and Chikkamagaluru (3 each), Vijayapura, Uttara Kannada and Mysuru (2 each) and Bagalkote, Shivamogga and Koppal (1 each).
Fourteen patients are suffering from ILI and two from severe acute respiratory infection (SARI).
On a positive note, 179 people got discharged, raising the total discharges to 4,893.
Currently, Kalaburagi is leading the state's Covid-19 burden with 457 active cases, followed by Bengaluru Urban (408), Yadgir (405), Raichur (275), Dakshina Kannada (242) and Ballari (233) among others.
In all, 4.73 lakh samples have been tested so far, of which 4.54 lakh have tested negative.
Bengaluru Urban has accounted for 51 deaths, followed by Kalaburagi (11), Bidar (9), Vijayapura (7) and Dakshina Kannada, and Davangere (6 each), among others.
( With inputs from IANS )