Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said the government was tackling a two-pronged issue involving the new Covid-19 variant and the emergence of clusters in various parts of the state.
Bommai asserted that his government had no plans to take lockdown-like measures.
“Instructions have been given to increase the number of tests per day,” the chief minister told reporters.
He said there was no question of a lockdown. “Normal public life should continue, but Covid-19 norms should be followed at places where people gather. Organizations that hold such gatherings should be responsible. We’re taking utmost precautions and wherever clusters have emerged, we’re keeping extra vigil,” he said.
“The government has to manage things at two levels. We’re doing whatever we can, such as scientific observation and management to control the new Omicron strain. Test swab samples in suspicious cases have been sent to the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) for genome sequencing to ascertain the exact variant,” he said.
The government is monitoring foreign arrivals by “tracking, tracing and testing them as well as their contacts,” Bommai said.
Covid-19 clusters have been reported in Dharwad, Anekal, Sarjapur (both in Bengaluru) and Mysuru where mostly students have tested positive.
“People in clusters are being tested again seven days after they get a positive report of the first test. About 4,000 persons have been tested in the SDM college in Dharwad. Similar tests are on at clusters in Mysuru, Hassan and Anekal in Bengaluru,” Bommai said.
(Published 30 November 2021, 19:07 IST)
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