The total number of COVID-19 cases at JSW Steel's campus in Karnataka's Ballari district is nearing 1000, even though the active cases remain lower at 97.

As per district officials, 909 positive cases have been recorded as of August 9 at the JSW Steel township, which houses 30,000 employees and their families.

However, the recovery has been high with only 97 active cases as of August 9 and one COVID-related death on the campus so far.

The company said it has been able to improve its average capacity utilisation improved in July to 83 percent from 76 percent in June 2020.

JSW Steel's Crude Steel Production for July also grew 9 percent month-to-month to 12.46 lakh tonnes, even as the company is operating with 50 percent staff working from home.

JSW Steel crude steel production in Q1 had stood at 2.96 million tons. The Ballari unit usually sees annual production of 12 million tons.

A JSW Steel spokesperson said the company has set up two COVID-19 care centres with over 200 beds.

The Jindal Sanjeevani Hospital has been converted into a COVID-19 Care Centre with a total of 82 beds which includes 75 regular beds and seven ICU beds. An additional Covid19 Care capacity has been added at OPJ Vocational Training Centre in Ballari with 121 beds.

The company said it has also set up a Fever Centre within the steel plant’s premises and has launched a 24x7 Corona Corner control room cum response cell.

The total cases in Ballari district now stand at 12,440 as of August 13, with 5630 active cases.

The total positive cases in Karnataka has crossed the 2 lakh mark, while active cases stand at 78,337.