Kumaraswamy flags COVID-19 surge in rural Karnataka, urges dairy farmers to follow norms

On Sunday, JD(S) leader and former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy expressed concern over the rapid COVID-19 spread in the rural areas of the state. He attributed the novel coronavirus surge to infected dairy farmers transporting milk to the dairies. According to him, the state government, Karnataka Milk Federation and other milk federations should take this new problem seriously barring for which a major disaster is in the offing. 

Writing on Twitter, he said, "Those who come to dairy should practice the use of cleanliness, mask and sanitiser". He added, "Employees working in milk producer associations should be declared Covid Warriors. Veterinary and Anganwadi workers should be educated in rural areas". At present, there are 6,05,515 active novel coronavirus cases in the state while 15,44,982 patients have recovered and 21,434 fatalities have been recorded. 

Karnataka government faces backlash over COVID handling

In an explosive charge on Saturday, Dr HM Prasanna accused the Karnataka government of taking all COVID-19 related decisions ignoring the advice of the Technical Advisory Committee. He is among the expert doctors and specialists who are a part of the TAC constituted by the state government in March 2020. Observing that the recommendations of the panel should be respected, he also flagged the shortage of novel coronavirus vaccines in Karnataka.

Speaking to the media, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association president Dr. Prasanna remarked, "I wrote to Chief Secretary last week that please ensure govt vaccine supplies, still the government has not responded to our request nor there's anything from CMO. Now, we're negotiating with Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India to get supplies for the entire private sector". It is pertinent to note that the inoculation drive for the 18-44 years age group has already been suspended.

The state government has ordered a total of 3 crore doses from Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech and is slated to float a global tender for procuring another two crore doses. Reportedly, it has provided land to set up a Bharat Biotech facility near Bengaluru. Dr Prasanna also raised serious concern over the "erratic" supply of oxygen. Highlighting that the micro-management of O2 supply to private hospitals hasn't been fixed so far, he called upon the Karnataka government to make a plan in this regard.