Bengaluru, Jun 22 (IANS): Bucking the daily trend of domestic returnees being the highest number of COVID-19 positive cases in Karnataka, contacts of earlier cases outnumbered returnees yet again in infections as the state reported 249 cases, taking the tally to 9,399, while five persons succumbed to the virus, an official said on Monday.

"New cases reported from Sunday 5 pm to Monday 5 pm, 249," said a health official.

As many as 125 contacts of earlier cases contracted the virus, constituting 50 per cent of the cases.

Unlike before, returnees accounted for only 50 or 20 per cent of the cases, the majority of them from Maharashtra.

There were also 11 cases with international travel history to Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Sharjah.

Meanwhile, nine people succumbed to the virus, three in Bengaluru Urban and one each from Ramanagara and Ballari.

On Monday, cases spiked in Bengaluru Urban, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Davangere, Uttara Kannada, Bagalkot, Bidar and Chikkamagaluru.

Among the new cases, Bengaluru Urban has contributed 126 cases, followed by Kalaburagi (27), Vijayapura (15), Udupi (14), Dakshina Kannada (12), Davangere (9), Uttara Kannada and Bagalkote (6 each), Bidar (5), Dharwad and Bengaluru Rural (4 each), Ramanagara (3), Chitradurga, Kolar, Kodagu and Tumkur (2 each), Yadgir, Mysuru, Chikkaballapura, Gadag and Koppal (1 each).

As many as 47 patients are suffering from Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and nine from Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

On a positive note, 111 people got discharged, raising the total discharges to 5,730.

Currently, Bengaluru Urban is leading the state's Covid-19 burden with 919 active cases, followed by Kalaburagi (484), Yadgir (343), Ballari (327), Dakshina Kannada (185) and Bidar (163).

Covid cases are consistently rising in Bengaluru, reaching up to a whopping 919 active cases.

In all, 5.15 lac samples have been tested so far, of which 4.93 lac have returned negative.

Of the 142 deaths, Bengaluru Urban has accounted for 67 deaths, followed by Bidar (15), Kalaburagi (11), Vijayapura and Davangere (7 each) and Dakshina Kannada (6) among others.

Meanwhile, amid rising COVID cases in the city, the health department has designated two stadiums and a spiritual centre as COVID Care Centres (CCC).

"There is a need for enhancing the number of CCCs in and around Bengaluru city and therefore exercising power under Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 and also in view of public interest, the following facilities are hereby designated to function as CCCs," said a health official.

The three facilities are Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar Ashram at Udayapura, Kanteerava Indoor Stadium at Sampangiramanagar and Koramangala Indoor Stadium.

COVID treatment facilities are categorized as CCCs, Dedicated COVID Health Centres (DCHC) and Dedicated COVID Hospitals (DCH).

CCCs deal with asymptomatic cases, DCHCs manage mild to moderate symptomatic Covid patients and DCHs are meant for serious patients.

The Haj Bhavan has also been designated as a CCC which can accommodate up to 500 asymptomatic patients.

The three facilities have to provide infrastructure, staff, resources and others for appropriate management of COVID patients.

"These institutions will abide by the guidelines, protocols and standard operating procedures issued by the government from time to time," he said.