With a surge in Covid-19 cases in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday urged parents not to send their children to school if they showed symptoms such as fever and cough, and also urged school and college boards to monitor students.
On Monday evening, around 191 tests were conducted and 80 active Covid-positive cases were reported in the state, of which 73 were from Bengaluru. The positivity rate was 19.3%. While 76 patients are in home isolation, four have been hospitalised.
The CM, who, along with Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, held a meeting of health officials. The Covid Task Force also instructed officials to take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state.
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He directed officials to ensure basic facilities including beds and oxygen ventilators across all the hospitals and also set up a Covid-19 helpline, besides providing information regularly to civilians on social media.
“If the need arises, Covid screening units should be made operational at the airports. As a precautionary measure, we must keep the vaccines ready as this is a mutated coronavirus. The Health department staff should not go on leave and be available at the health centres,” the CM declared.
“We have already issued Covid guidelines and urge people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour. The officials are in constant contact with the Centre and are monitoring the situation. To prevent the spread of Covid among children, the parents should be careful not to send their children with symptoms like fever and cold to school. The school administration should grant leave to children with fever. We will soon issue separate guidelines in this regard,” he added.
Elaborating on the Covid preparedness of the state, Rao said:
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“We have distributed the RTPCR testing kits to the hospitals across the state. As many as 5,000 RTPCR testing kits and 5,000 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits have been procured for the month. As the number of Covid patients is currently low, mandatory testing is being done for only those with respiratory and heart diseases at VRDL testing centers. As a precaution, instructions have been given to buy Remdesivir injection. This is the Covid Omicron JN1 strain, with mild symptoms. Though there has been a slight increase in Covid positive cases, it is not serious. But people need to be careful and take precautions.”
The state health department has directed all hospitals to test patients with symptoms of influenza-like illnesses (ILI), severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), and cardiac issues.
“It is advisable for the elderly, pregnant women, and those with heart and lung problems to wear masks as a precautionary measure. It has been suggested that a technical committee meeting be held every week to give necessary directions. Also, no pregnant woman should be shifted from one hospital to another if she is found to be having symptoms,” Rao concluded.
