Mangaluru: Daily cases of Covid-19 almost doubled in Dakshina Kannada in 24 hours. While the district reported 106 cases on Thursday, the number of fresh cases increased to 211 on Friday.

The district’s test positivity rate has increased to 2%, after more than three months. Dakshina Kannada reported a fatality, taking the Covid-19 death toll to 1,704. Though 33 people were discharged, the number of active cases in the district increased from 536 to 713.

Dr Ashok H, nodal officer for Covid-19 in Dakshina Kannada, said that Covid-19 clusters were found in three hostels of professional colleges.

A Covid-19 cluster with 32 cases was found in the hostel of an engineering college in Mangaluru taluk. The health department has collected 756 samples in the hostel, where students have a travel history of visiting Kerala.

Meanwhile, another hostel of a medical college in Mangaluru taluk has also been declared a containment zone, after 14 students tested positive. Similarly, one more Covid-19 cluster with 10 cases was found in a hostel of a private medical college in Mangaluru taluk. A total of 127 samples from the hostel have been tested. All those who were tested have a history of travel to Kerala, Dr Ashok said.

In Udupi, the number of active cases increased from 427 to 558. Of the 148 fresh cases reported in the district on Friday, 125 were from Udupi taluk, which includes cases from educational institution campuses in Manipal. While Karkala taluk reported 14 cases, nine were from Kundapur.