Covid mock drill to be conducted in Karnataka hospitals, says health minister

He said the state government will follow the Centre's guidelines after a meeting chaired by the Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya with the health ministers of states on Friday.

Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar on Friday has once again urged the people of the state to take the booster dose at the earliest. He said the state government will follow the Centre's guidelines after a meeting chaired by the Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya with the health ministers of states on Friday.

Covid mock drill to be conducted in Karnataka hospitals, says health minister

Speaking with the news agency ANI, minister K Sudhakar said, “My sincere appeal to people of Karnataka is to take the booster dose as early as possible. People should wear masks, especially in indoor places and maintain social distance."

"He has directed us to increase surveillance & testing & ensure Covid19 appropriate behaviour is followed. A mock drill for emergency response to deal with Covid19 will be conducted in hospitals," Sudhakar said.

The minister earlier said that only 20% of the population in the state had taken the booster dose. He said, “Sudden increase in Covid cases in some countries around the world is a wakeup call for us. Only 20% of the people in the state have received the precautionary dose vaccine so far, I request everyone to get the precautionary dose vaccine without fail and join hands with the government in this fight.”

Read | 'Take Covid booster shot, only 20% of people in Karnataka got it': K Sudhakar

On Thursday, the Karnataka government also made face masks mandatory in closed spaces and air conditioned rooms. The government also decided to conduct mandatory testing of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) in the state amid the spread of Covid-19 cases in some parts of the world, including China.