Bengaluru: Alarmed by the reports of fresh COVID cases coming to light in neighbouring Kerala, the Karnataka government has decided to conduct mock drills in the hospitals to check preparedness in the event the pandemic recurs in the state.

The government has also convened the Technical Advisory Committee on COVID-19 on Tuesday.

"Today we had a meeting with the officials where directions were issued to purchase testing kits through Karnataka Medical Supplies Corporation. We have asked officials to procure test kits, which includes RT-PCR tests, Rapid Antigen Test and VTM (Viral Transport Medium)," Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao told reporters here after a meeting with the officials of the Health department.

Officials have also been instructed to conduct mock drills in all the hospitals to check how many beds including ICU beds, oxygen availability and medicines, he added.

"I have told the officials to be prepared. Though the situation is not like that (alarming) and we should not think in that manner, we should be prepared in case the (COVID like) situation recurs. In the event of any shortcoming, it should be rectified now itself," Rao said.

The Minister said he has convened a meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee on COVID on Tuesday. The TAC is headed by Dr K Ravi, who is the head of the department of medicine in Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI).

"We should be prepared and not allow a disaster to happen. We were not prepared in the past but after having experienced it we should gear up now itself," Rao said.

This time only those showing symptoms of COVID will be tested and not everyone, the minister said.

He underlined the need to study how the virus and its sub-variants are behaving.