Of the 4,246 fresh Covid-19 cases reported in Karnataka on Wednesday, 3,605 are from Benglauru. The state capital also reported two deaths — of a 72-year-old woman and a 15 year-old-girl. The total positivity rate for the day was 3.33 per cent and case fatality rate was at 0.04 per cent.
The total active cases in the state are 17,414, of which 14,762 are in Bengaluru.
On the night of January 4, state health minister K Sudhakar said the state has logged 149 new Omicron cases, taking the total tally of the variant to 226.
Ramping up the daily testing, the state health department reported that 127,328 Covid tests were conducted Wednesday.
The cases almost doubled from Tuesday, when the tally was 2,479.
With a surge of Covid cases in Goa, the state has directed officials to follow special surveillance measures for arrivals from the neighbouring state into Karnataka.
Negative RT-PCR certificates not older than 72 hours (3 days) have to be produced by passengers entering Karnataka via flight, bus, train or personal transport. This is also applicable for passengers boarding connecting flights from Goa.
Deputy Commissioners of the Districts bordering Goa, including Belgavi and Uttara Kannada, have been directed to establish check posts to ensure all vehicles (passengers, drivers, helpers/ cleaners) entering Karnataka are checked for the compliance of the above requirement.
“It is mandatory for students & public who are regular travellers from Goa to Karnataka for various reasons to undergo RT-PCR once in 15 days and possess negative certificates,” the government ordered.
Constitutional functionaries, healthcare professionals, and children below 5 years of age are exempted from RT-PCR certificates.
“In dire emergency situations (death in the family, medical treatment etc.), the passenger’s swab shall be collected on arrival in Karnataka with necessary details like phone number, address etc., duly verified from his 1D card. On receipt of the RT-PCR test report, further action will be taken as per the Covid testing protocol,” principal secretary to government (department of health) TK Anil Kumar said.
Chief secretary P Ravi Kumar has asked the Labour department to ensure that employees working in industries/factories, IT firms, etc., are vaccinated with two doses and follow Covid-appropriate behaviour at their workplace. “The local Labour Officer along with Health Department official shall verify the Vaccine Status of the employees working in said establishments in their respective jurisdictions and also compliance to COVID 19 appropriate behaviour in the workplace,” the order stated.
With the surge in the number of cases, Kumar, in a fresh order, stated that private medical college hospitals will reserve beds under each category — ICU, ICU with Ventilator, HDU/Oxygenated and general beds — for treatment of Public Health Authorities-referred cases.
According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Covid war room data, out of the 1,926 beds allocated for Covid patients, 91 are occupied. These beds are available across government medical colleges, government hospitals and Covid care centres.
BBMP chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta on Tuesday instructed the chief health officer Dr Balasundar to identify one Covid care center (CCC) in all assembly constituencies within municipal limits. He instructed the CHO to provide him with the details of the CCCs, including name and address, availability of beds, number of oxygenated beds, available oxygen cylinders, and number of oxygen concentrators.
Teenagers get their first jab at Karnataka Public School, Uttarahalli, Bengaluru, on Monday. (Express photo: Jithendra M) 
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