Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said the state is concentrating more on increasing vaccination.
Karnataka on Wednesday recorded its first case of the South Africa variant of coronavirus. This is in addition to the 29 cases of the UK variant confirmed in the state so far.
The case of the South African strain comes in the backdrop of a rising number of cases in Karnataka. The numbers are still a fraction of the over a lakh active cases and 10,000 daily cases that were recorded at the peak of the pandemic last year. The surge in number, however, still remains a matter of concern.
The Karnataka Health Minister said the state was prepared. "We have taken enough precautionary measures in Karnataka to ensure there is not much spread of what is called the second wave," Dr K Sudhakar told reporters.
"We are concentrating more on increasing the inoculation also. About 3,500 vaccination facilities have been created."
Karnataka is in the top five states when it comes to new cases, with over 700 recorded in the last 24 hours and over 7,000 active cases.
A week ago, the new daily cases numbered less than 600 and there were just over 6,000 active cases. The state has reported over 9.56 lakh cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
The state is also watching its neighbours closely.
"I am definitely concerned with what is happening in Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as a health minister. But so far, we have not restrained inter-state movement. I am keenly watching the development in these states," Dr Sudhakar said.
"We have never restricted the movement of people from Maharashtra and Kerala. All we have done is ensure that we have seen an RT-PCR negative certificate from the people from these states because there is a spike in these states and we can't afford to again go back to our same condition in Karnataka. We have maintained very well in Karnataka and we want to continue the good practice."
Recent clusters of Covid cases in apartment complexes in state capital Bengaluru have also been a cause of concern.