The health authorities in Mysuru have resolved to subject patients suffering from influenza-like illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) for COVID-19 test following advisory from the government in the wake of emergence of a new strain of virus in neighboring Kerala where the cases are on the rise.
Testing will be done based on the case. Other than ILI and SARI, testing will be done if the case warrants. There is no testing target as such fixed for the district but the number of tests will anyway increase since testing has to be done for the people in the risk groups. Symptomatic patients will also have to be tested for combating the pandemic, according to the health sources.
Mysuru District Health Officer Kumaraswamy said surveillance is on in H.D. Kote which shares its border with Kerala and the health teams deployed on the border check-posts are keeping track of people who frequently engage in cross-border journey for various works. The community is being educated and they are being advised about the precautions since they will be travelling for various reasons to Kerala where the new strain has been detected and new cases had been reported, he said.
