BENGALURU: Karnataka Health Minister Sudhakar laid out the state's preparedness and measures being taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of tests per day will be increased to 2.5 lakh in the state and by 30,000 in Bengaluru. The 5T strategy will be implemented again: Trace, Track, Test, Treat, Technology. The turnaround time of genomic sequencing results will be improved to 24-36 hours from the current two to three days, in addition to starting genome labs in Ballari and Hubballi. Each lab can process 1875 samples at a time.
"Eight essential COVID-19 drugs will be procured, if the current stock is not enough. These include Enoxaparin injection, Methylprednisolone, Dexamethasone, Remdesivir, Tocilixumab, Amphotericin, IVIG and Posaconazole, the last of which we are not finding enough of in the market," Sudhakar said.
All ILI, SARI, high risk and symptomatic people will be tested. Those coming from any state to Karnataka will need to show a negative RT-PCR test report, irrespective of mode of transport. From the total beds, 30 percent will be reserved for pediatric cases.
Sharing statistics on the available infrastructure, post the second wave, he said the state has established 6,386 oxygen beds and 2,928 ICU beds in 147 taluk hospitals at a cost of Rs 243 crores and 665 oxygen beds and 263 ICU beds in 19 district hospitals at Rs 25 crores. Of 266 PSA oxygen plants allotted to Karnataka, 217 are operational. Apart from this, 3,460 ventilators and 8,100 oxygen concentrators are available.
The state COVID-19 helpline is 14410 and Bengaluru helpline is 1533. Tele-triaging and physical triaging will be done to determine if a patient requires home isolation, CCC or hospital. There are 84,000 medical and paramedical staff in the state, with 4000 doctors appointed after the second wave. If there are five cases in an area in Bengaluru, a micro-containment zone will be formed and if it is 15 cases, a larger containment zone will be formed. So far, the capital has 219 small clusters and 48 large clusters. So far, the hospitalisation has been low with little oxygen requirement.