Bengaluru, Two more Covid patients, an 82-year-old man from Bidar and a 63-year-old man from the city, have succumbed to the virus, even as positive cases rose by 12 to 601, an official said on Saturday.

"Positive cases 590. An 82-year-old male resident of Bidar admitted on Monday with a complaint of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) died on Tuesday found positive for Covid," said a health official.

The 82-year-old man is Karnataka's 24th Covid death.

Bidar is 690 km north of Bengaluru in this southern state.

Though Bidar has reported 15 positive cases, four are currently active and 10 got discharged while the 82-year-old man is the first death.

Similarly, another man from the city, a 63-year-old Covid patient with diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism and renal failure succumbed to the virus on Saturday.

Designated as positive case 557, the city man was also on dialysis, chemotherapy and suffered from multiple myeloma.

He was admitted in hospital with a complaint of breathlessness on Thursday and died on Saturday due to cardiac arrest, the official said.

The 63-year-old man is the state's 25th Covid death.

In Karnataka, Bengaluru Urban reported the highest number of Covid cases in a single place at 145, out of which 67 are active and 71 discharged.

Bengaluru Urban also reported six Covid deaths, the highest number in the state, followed by Kalaburagi with five.

In the past 24 hours, the state has witnessed three Covid deaths.

Meanwhile, 12 new Covid cases surfaced on Saturday, breaching the 600 mark to settle at 601.

All are contacts of earlier cases, except the Bidar man with SARI who died on Saturday.

"As of 5 p.m. Saturday, cumulatively 601 Covid positive cases have been confirmed in the state, it includes 25 deaths and 271 discharges," said the official.

Twenty more patients got discharged, raising the number of such patients from 251 to 271 in the past 24 hours.

There are 304 active cases, out of which 297 patients are isolated at designated hospitals and are stable, except seven in ICU.

Among the new cases, seven are men and five women.

Except the 82-year-old man who died on Saturday, all cases are below 54 years of age.

Of the new cases, Bengaluru Urban contributed four, followed by Tumkuru and Vijayapura two each, Bidar, Chikkaballapura, Belgavi and Bagalkot one each.

Karnataka's top five Covid places included Bengaluru Urban, 145 infections, followed by Mysuru, 88, Belagavi, 71, Kalaburagi, 55 and Viajayapura, 46.

The state government has screened 1.4 lakh people for Covid at airports and seaports until now.