Karnataka government prepared to fight Covid second wave, says minister K Sudhakar

Bengaluru: The State government is prepared to prevent and mitigate the possible second wave of Covid-19 and in the next 50 days doctors, healthcare workers and officials will work in a mission mode, said Health and Medical Education Minister Dr.K.Sudhakar.

He chaired a meeting with senior officials and heads of key government hospitals to discuss the future course of action to be taken.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, the minister emphasised the need for ramping up vaccine coverage. "A few days back nearly 2.5 lakh inoculations were done in a single day. So it is possible to ramp up coverage and a target has been set to vaccinate 3 lakh people per day. If we vaccinate senior citizens and people above 45 years with comorbidities we can mitigate the second wave," the minister said.

According to the health department, 200 ambulances have been deployed in Bengaluru to ensure that there is no shortage of ambulances during emergency. Also the war room launched during the peak of the virus will be reactivated and the government will monitor the situation using real-time data. Decisions have been made to recruit resident doctors and paramedical staff on a temporary basis, he said.

The State government is likely to hold the first round of discussion with private hospitals in a week to reserve beds for treatment of Covid-19 patients. "If the infection spreads more we will rope in private hospitals to ensure sufficient availability of beds. The heads of respective institutions will be held accountable for any lapse. There was a lack of information and awareness when the pandemic hit us last year. Yet, we were successful in controlling the pandemic. We are now anticipating a possible second wave and preparing to fight it," Sudhakar said, adding that the advantage of vaccines now which we didn't have last year. People should follow precautions and should not let the guard down.