Karnataka: Booth-level task forces to boost virus response

Bengaluru: The government has decided to form booth-level committees across Karnataka for all-round surveillance of Covid-19, including monitoring of people ordered home isolation. Bengaluru will have 8,800 such committees.

After a meeting of Covid-19 task force on Saturday, medical education minister K Sudhakar said the local management of all issues related to the pandemic would be strengthened with the help of these committees. “There will be booth-level task force committees across the state, from villages to cities. They will act at ultra-local level,” he said.

Each panel will have five to six members, including representatives from the health department, police and municipality or panchayat. Volunteers and valvemen will also be involved in the effort. Virus surveillance, tracking of ILI cases and coordination for ambulances and hospital beds will be part of the job.

The state government is also making arrangements for telemedicine for asymptomatic patients who want to speak to a doctor. In another key decision, at least two ambulances will be stationed in each of the 198 wards of Bengaluru.

Sudhakar said the additional commissioner of police (traffic) would be the nodal officer to coordinate the movement of ambulances.

The task force has also appointed a nodal officer to track availability of beds and ventilators at hospitals. The officer will provide real-time information about the facilities. “We want to ensure that no one runs from one hospital to another,” Sudhakar said.

Fresh guidelines have been issued for handling bodies at mortuaries, transporting them in ambulances, performing last rites, and fumigating beds. This follows outrage over disrespectful handling of bodies in a few places. “Legal action will be taken against those who treat bodies in an inhuman way,” Sudhakar said.

The state-level task force has also decided to arrange for test reports within 24 hours and decided to increase the testing capacity from 15,000 a day to 25,000.