Karnataka’s Minister of health and medical education Dr K Sudhakar said the state aims to vaccinate its entire adult population by November.

“We are working with a target to fully vaccinate the entire adult population by end of November, said Sudhakar, speaking to media after holding a conference with DCs and ZP CEOs of 23 districts which are lagging behind in vaccination coverage on Monday.

He added that these 23 district administrations have been given a target to speed up coverage and complete first dose for all by the end of this month.

“Target has been set to complete both the doses for all by November. Progress and achievement on testing, setting up of oxygen plants and other civil works were also discussed,” the minister said.

Speaking about the government’s decision to allow Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations in the state, Sudhakar said, the state had permitted the same despite higher cases last year.

“This year we have a positivity rate of 0.7 per cent and guidelines have been issued to ensure precautionary measures especially in public celebrations. We will review the situation district -wise and issue separate guidelines wherever the positivity is more than two per cent,” he added.

In the case of a 12-year-old succumbing to Nipah virus in neighbouring state Kerala, the minister said Karnataka had taken strict measures to ensure it doesn’t spread in the state.

On Kerala, the minister tweeted asking all educational institutions, hospitals, nursing homes, industries, hotels and other establishments to “instruct their wards to defer their travel from Kerala until the end of October 2021”.

An advisory has been issued by the state adding to the special measures that are already in place for arrivals from Kerala.

These instructions were issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, taking into account high instances of students and employees from Kerala who were arriving with negative RT-PCR reports testing Covid positive during repeat tests in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

The advisory also instructed the concerned authorities to advise people not to travel to Kerala till the end of October 2021, “if there is no emergency or urgency” with a view to avoid third wave of Covid-19 in Karnataka “in the larger interest of public health”.