Bengaluru,  With the pandemic's second wave unabated, total Covid cases in Karnataka crossed 16-lakh mark, as 37,733 tested positive in a day, while 217 patients succumbed to the infection, said the state health bulletin on Sunday.

"With 37,733 new cases registered on Saturday, the state's Covid tally shot up to 16,01,865, including 4,21,436 active cases, while 11,64,398 recovered, with 21,149 discharged during the day," said the bulletin here.

As epi-centre of the pandemic, Bengaluru reported 26,199 fresh cases on Saturday, taking its Covid tally to 7,97,292, including 2,81,767 active cases, while recoveries rose to 5,08,923, with 10,361 discharged in the last 24 hours.

The virus claimed 217 lives, including 64 in Bengaluru, taking the state's death toll to 16,011 and the city's toll to 6,601 since the pandemic broke out in mid-March a year ago.

Among districts, most new cases registered are 2,750 in Mysuru, 1,302 in Tumakur, 1,156 in Ballari, 996 in Dakshina Kannada, 792 in Hassan, 741 in Dharwad, 691 in Bagalkot, 653 in Mandya, 620 in Shivamogga, 584 in Bidar and 567 in Koppal, with the rest in the remaining 19 districts across the state.

The state health department has discontinued giving data on the number of patients in the intensive care units (ICUs) in the hospitals across the state in the bulletin.

Out of 1,58,365 tests conducted during the day across the state, 12,426 were through rapid antigen detection and 1,45,941 through RT-PCR method.

Positivity rate rose to 23.82 per cent and case fatality rate was at 0.57 per cent across the state on Saturday.

Meanwhile, 23,569 people, including 8,245 senior citizens above 60 years of age and 13,054 in the 45-59 years age group were vaccinated during the day across the state.

Adults in the 18-44 years age group were not given the shot on Sunday due to shortage of the dose.

"Cumulatively, 98,05,229 people, including healthcare workers, frontline warriors and 45 adults in the 18-44 years age group have received the jab since the vaccination drive was launched on January 16 across the southern state," added the bulletin.