Karnataka gets Central pat for COVID management

BENGALURU: As the number of the Covid-19 cases in some states continues to surge, The Central Government on Friday appreciated Karnataka for adopting “good practices” that helped the state to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Twenty-nine new cases were reported in the state on Friday, taking the total number of positive cases to 474, including 18 deaths and 152 discharges. The total count is much less compared to other states.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan during a video conference with the Health and Medical Education Ministers from the states, asked other states to emulate good practices adopted by Karnataka. “We have been asked to share our good practices with other states and we will do that soon,” said Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar. He was part of the video conference by the Union minister to take stock of the situation across the country.

“Extensive use of technology, testing protocols and strict enforcement of the lockdown were all appreciated during the meeting,” Sudhakar said. He said Karnataka is extensively using the information technology for surveillance, contact tracing, isolation, monitoring those in quarantine, for creating a dashboard with heat-map of different areas, including those that have reported high number of cases. The state government also launched mobile application and a helpline “Apthamitra” that provides consultation over phone so that people do not rush to hospitals.

The Apthamitra application that was launched recently by the state has been linked to Aarogya Setu app, Sudhakar added. Apart from using technology, the state government has also taken measures for early identification of people with symptoms of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Symptoms (SARI). Even the districts that have not reported any positive cases have been told to do tests to identify such cases. According to experts, early detection and treatment is the best way to handle ILI and SARI cases.