Increase surveillance and ramp up testing further to check pandemic: PM Modi to CM BS Yediyurappa

Bengaluru: Lauding Karnataka for conducting Covid tests in a scientific way, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told the southern state to increase surveillance and ramp up testing further to check the pandemic.

"Increase surveillance and ramp up RT-PCR tests to three-fold. Focus more on 9 districts which have the highest number of deaths," Modi told Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa during a video conference.

Advocating a mission mode approach over the next six months, Modi called for strict enforcement in the containment zones across the state to check the virus spread.

"Re-test all symptomatic negative results of anti-gen tests and ensure wide publicity on precautionary measures through the media," he said.

Advising the state to regularly monitor those who are in home isolation after testing Covid positive and are under treatment for being asymptomatic, Modi told Yediyurappa to organise awareness programmes on Covid-19 across the state.

State Health Minister B. Sriramulu, Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijaya Bhaskar and Additional Chief Secretary E.V. Ramana Reddy participated in the two-hour-long meeting.