Technical Advisory Council Of Karnataka Advises To Implement Tougher Steps To Prevent Omicron

On January 4, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will meet with specialists in the wake of an increase in Covid-19 cases in the state. In its 144th meeting, the state's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) expressed concern about the rise in Omicron cases and advised that the state government impose stronger measures.

Based on previous experience with two waves in Karnataka, the case spike in Bangalore/Karnataka was preceded by the case surge in Mumbai/Maharashtra. As a result, TAC provides the following recommendations as an early measure of mitigation, based on its extensive deliberations: According to the TAC study, for imposing curbs in public activities, three colour codes shall be given: WTPR less than 1% will be considered to yellow; 1 to 2% will be considered to Orange; and 2% and above will be considered to Red. It has advised the civic agency Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to use a mobile team of marshals and police to enforce Covid acceptable behaviour (CAB) and standard operating procedures (SoP) in all residential schools, hostels, residences, malls, and other locations of crowding.

Since Omicron is known to be milder, the majority of patients may not require hospital beds as they may choose to be in Covid Care Centres (CCC), many patients must be relocated to CCC due to a shortage of resources at home. When properly prepared, good CCCs will help to decongest hospitals. Because Omicron is highly contagious, only individuals with adequate facilities and a 'caregiver' as determined by the triaging team will be allowed to stay at home. All home-bound patients must be strictly tele-monitored. If the weekly total positivity rate (WTPR) is between 1% and 2%, TAC recommends weekend and night curfews, as well as lockdown if the WTPR is greater than 3%. The expert group also recommended that if the WTPR is greater than 2%, offices and factories adopt work from home policies, educational institutions return to online classes, and movie theatres, recreational centres, and gardens be closed.

Meanwhile, Karnataka reported 1,290 new cases of Covid 19 on Monday, with 1041 of them coming from Bengaluru. The day's overall positive rate was 1.60 percent. Five Covid deaths were also reported by the state health department, three in Bengaluru and one each in Hassan and Chitradurga.