Mask-up, follow Covid appropriate behaviour: Karnataka govt asks citizens

Wearing masks not sending children with symptoms to schools adhering to Covid appropriate behaviour like social distancing seven days home isolation and leave for infected patients are among the measures that have been decided by the Karnataka governments cabinet subcommittee on coronavirus amid a spike in cases and detection of JN1 infections in the stateIt has also decided to administer precautionary vaccine for the aged and those with comorbidities and to get 30000 doses of Corbevax vaccine from the Centre for this purposeDetailed guidelines in this regard will be issued by the government soon with New Year too round the cornerThe guidelines are everyone is advised to wear masks especially those above 60 years of age and those with comorbidities compulsorily Children those with symptoms like cold fever among other things should not be sent to school and remain at home under watch also tested if required Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao saidSpeaking to reporters after chairing the cabinet subcommittee meeting on Covid he said the government is not imposing any restrictions on New Year celebrations and gatherings but there is a general advisory to wear masks at crowded places and observe Covid appropriate behaviour like social distancing using disinfectants or hand washThose infected with Covid should remain in home isolation for a week if not required to be hospitalised All those who undergo home isolation and are working in government and nongovernment sectors should be given mandatory casual leave for a week while those hospitalised should be given special leave for the hospitalisation period and guidelines will be issued on this he addedThe Minister reiterated there is no need for people to worry but stressed the need to be cautious and take precautionsThere is no restriction on movement of people also no screening or testing of people at border areas as of now he addedThis was the first meeting of the cabinet subcommittee on Covid which was attended by Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa Medical Education Minister Sharana Prakash Patil and Higher Education Minister M C Sudhakar along with RaoThe Karnataka Department of Health amp Family Welfare Services on Monday said 34 cases of Covid19s variant JN1 have been detected in the state so far which include three deathsStating that the cabinet subcommittee discussed the Covid situation with inputs on the situation both at the national and international level Rao said the JN1 infections are not surprising nor there is no need to panic about it as its spread was expectedThe WHO and Union Health Ministry have classified JN1 as Variant of Interest VoI and not Variant of Concern VoC he said but precautions should be takenAdmitting that though the state government had said 5000 Covid tests per day will be conducted from Saturday there was a slight delay and about 3200 tests were done on Monday the Minister said today the number of tests will reach 5000 and necessary kits have been distributed to all districts and taluksMore tests will result in getting to know about more cases and infection spreadAs of Monday 4110 active cases are there across the country out of them 3096 are from Kerala 436 in Karnataka followed by other states he said and added it is to be noticed that Kerala and Karnataka are doing more number of testsso more number of cases are being reportedOut of the 436 cases in Karnataka 400 are in home isolation while 36 are in hospital and out of them only 7 are in ICU he further said and added those under home isolation will be tracked and followup will be done also sewage surveillance in cities like Bengaluru and Mangaluru among others has been suggested for the sake of trackingInstructions have also been given to carry out a death audit he said adding seven deaths have happened after the recent spike in cases and out of them as per current information at least three were with JN1 infection and information regarding others are awaited and all of them had comorbiditiesout of seven four were unvaccinatedNoting that it has been decided to ensure the availability and working condition of tele ICUs and ICU beds pressure swing adsorption PSA oxygen plants and Liquid Medical Oxygen LMO Rao said directions have been issued to ensure all facilities are uptodate and there are no shortcomingsPointing out that there is an opportunity for precautionary vaccine doses for those who have taken the first and second dose of Covid vaccine the Minister said we have directed to get 30000 doses of Corbevax from the Centre These precautionary vaccines are for those with comorbidities those using immunosuppressants and aged persons It is for those who have not taken booster doses earlierThere are no vaccine stocks he said and added that the state government is also writing to the Centre to provide Covaxin and Covishield for anyone who wants to take vaccination afreshIt has also been decided to administer flu vaccines compulsorily to all health workers in the state for the sake of protection and these vaccines will be purchased based on the requirement Rao said Also separate Covid wards are being set up at Victoria Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in Bengaluru all hospitals of medical colleges and all district hospitalsNoting that a committee has been constituted for price fixation on testing at private hospitals and testing or diagnostic centres he said within a couple of days an announcement will be made to this effect It is also being directed not to do unnecessary CT scan of patients until they are diagnosed with Covid to avoid misuse he addedIn response to a question the Minister said the Indian Institute of Science and Indian Statistical Institute have been asked to do a predictive analysis with available data and submit a report about the possible spike in cases in the days aheadThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its 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