The day also saw 778 patients getting discharged after recovery.
Out of the fresh cases reported today, a whopping 1,148 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone, while among 54 deaths, 22 are from this capital city.
The previous biggest single day spike was recorded on July 5 with 1,925 cases.
As of July 8 evening, cumulatively 28,877 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 470 deaths and 11876 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.
It said out of 16,527 active cases, 16,075 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and stable, while 452 are in ICU.
The dead include- 22 from Bengaluru urban, Dharwad seven, Ballari four, three each from Hassan and Raichur, two each from Ramanagara, Chikkaballapura, Vijayapura, Tumakuru, Mysuru, and one each from Bidar, Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi, Chikkamagaluru, Bengaluru rural.
The deceased include 37 men and 17 women.
Most of the dead had either history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI).
Out of 2,062 cases tested positive today, contacts of the majority of the cases are still under tracing.
Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 1,148 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada 183, Dharwad 89, Kalaburagi 66, fifty nine each from Ballari and Mysuru, Bengaluru rural 37, Ramanagara 34, Chikkaballapura 32, 31 each from Udupi and Haveri, Bidar 29, Belagavi 27, Hassan 26, and 24 each from Bagalkote and Tumakuru.
While Chikkamagaluru reported 23 cases, it was 20 in Mandya, Uttara Kannada 19, Davangere 18, 17 each from Raichur and Shivamogga, Kolar 16, 11 each from Yadgir and Koppal, Gadag five, Vijayapura four, and Chitradurga two.
Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with 12,509 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 1,816 and Dakshina Kannada 1,534.
Among discharges, Bengaluru urban tops the list with 2,228 discharges, followed by Kalabuagi 1,351 and Udupi 1,178.
A total of 7,59,181 samples were tested so far, out of which 19,134 were tested on Wednesday alone.
According to the bulletin, so far 7,11,319 samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 16,503 were reported negative today. KSU BN WELCOME BN WELCOME