As the number of COVID-19 positive cases has increased in the State, the government is planning to double the current capability to treat patients.
While currently the daily growth rate of COVID-19 positive cases stands at 3.6%, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Wednesday said that the State government plans to increase the infrastructure capability in the State to treat 2 lakh positive persons from the current one lakh people.
His announcement came during the interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a videoconference where Mr. Yediyurappa provided details on steps taken in Karnataka to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
According to a release from the Chief Minister’s Office, Mr. Yediyurappa informed that 673 fever clinics that have established across the State has helped prevent spread of the contagion in hospitals. State is working at improving infrastructure capability to treat 2 lakh COVID-19 positives, he added.
He said that the health survey in the State has covered 1.5 crore families out of the total 1.68 crore families, and vulnerable people have been identified.
Besides, he pointed out that the State’s capability for testing has been increased to 15,000 samples per day, and currently 7,500 tests for every one million population are being conducted. He informed the Prime Minister that 1.6% of those tested are positive, and the tele ICU facility is being used by experts to guide and monitor doctors in different parts of the State treating COVID-19 patients.
CMO sources said that Mr. Yediyurappa also informed the Prime Minister that the State was ready to open up further and was awaiting Central guidelines on these.
Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, according to the release, gave a demonstration on the steps taken and the technology deployed to control the spread of the pandemic and training programmes that have been taken up at the panchayat levels.