Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner N Manjunath Parasad on Saturday directed health officers to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine drive as well as increase the testing also and keep a check on rise in the COVID-19 cases. Addressing virtual meetings with health officers, Prasad said that the government has already issued a circular in this regard to increase vaccination drive in all Primary Health Centres as well as in private hospitals too.
He added that the new vaccination drive being launched on March 8 and it happens to be International Women's Day, the civic body will have to take steps to set-up pink booths to exclusively administer vaccination to women.
In similar lines, state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said drive will be done at about 3,000 centres including PHCs, Taluk Hospitals and District Hospitals from March 8, and the target is to vaccinate 1.5 lakh people each day. The minister on Saturday also held a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation and progress of vaccination drive in the state.
Further noting that since the last several weeks about 200-250 cases were being reported in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP-city corporation) limits each day, which has suddenly increased to 400 yesterday, Sudhakar said 12 clusters have been identified in BBMP limits and testing will be increased to 40,000 per day from the current 30,000. Contact tracing will also be made more robust and the Centre has directed to trace 20 primary and secondary contacts for each positive case, he said.
All these 20 contacts will be subjected to COVID-19 test, the minister said. Citing the high caseload in the neighbouring states of Kerala and Maharashtra, he said along with strict measures at borders, restrictions on large gatherings will also be tightened.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa will hold a video conference with district administrations of districts where the positivity rate is high, he added.
Since there are more interstate travellers to Mangaluru, testing will be ramped up there, the minister further said. Instructions have been issued to Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada, Mysuru, Chamaajanagara, Udupi, Kodagu, Belagavi and Tumkuru authorities to be more vigilant, he added.