Karnataka government to increase Covid tests

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has decided to conduct more Covid-19 tests in the coming 15 days in view of the huge crowds witnessed for four consecutive days after the death of actor Puneeth Rajkumar and the celebrations of bypoll results in two districts of north Karnataka.

The decision has been taken as per the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Committee. It is estimated that as many as 20 lakh people turned out to pay their last homage to Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar. People come down to Bengaluru from across the state.

Similarly, during the bypoll campaigning and results in Sindgi constituency in Vijayapura district and Hangal constituency of Haveri district thousands of people gathered to celebrate victory.

In both cases, the huge masses didn't follow any of the set Covid guidelines. The health department is now crossing its fingers on how these incidents will lead to Covid situation in the state.

The government has been advised to conduct more number of Covid tests in Bengaluru and two constituencies.

As Puneeth Rajkumar's untimely death was a sudden development, people landed in Bengaluru in lakhs from all across and the government could not enforce Covid guidelines and entire machinery had to be put in place to facilitate final 'darshan' for the masses. In view of this, it has also been advised to be extra cautious about the evolving situation in Bengaluru.

The Technical Committee earlier had recommended to conduct 1.1 lakh tests in the state everyday. It had been advised that among these 50,000 tests to be conducted in Bengaluru and 60,000 in districts with special attention to border areas. The decision has been taken to increase the Covid tests in the capital city by 20 per cent.

The government is also contemplating to issue guidelines on collecting contact numbers of people who get medicines for cold, cough and breathing problems. Further awareness will be created to get the Covid tests done.

The tests will be conducted in crowded places like markets, bus terminals and others.