Bengaluru, Jul 4 (IANS): Alarmed over the rising number of Covid-19 cases, a worried Karnataka government is setting up booth-level task forces to contain the virus across the state, Medical Education Minister Dr K. Sudhakar said on Friday.

"Task forces are being set up at the booth level for monitoring and surveillance of Covid-19 cases across the state, especially in Bengaluru where the cases have been surging by the day," Sudhakar told reporters here after a meeting with health experts at the state secretariat in the city centre.

As part of hyper local management to contain the pandemic, the state health department has also released guidelines for home isolation of asymptomatic cases and funeral of Covid victims.

About 8,800 booth-level task force committees will be set up across Bengaluru, where 994 positive cases were reported during the day, taking its tally to 7,713 of which 6,297 are active cases while 720 have been discharged. The city has reported 105 deaths caused by the dreaded virus so far.

The guidelines came on a day when a whopping 1,694 new Covid cases were reported from across the southern state, taking its positive cases' tally to 19,710, including 10,608 active cases, while 8,805 people have recovered and discharged. The state's death toll stands at 293.

The task forces will have officials of the city civic corporations or the town municipalities in urban areas and local bodies in the rural areas. A nodal officer will supervise the local management of the cases.

"The drop in recovery rate in Bengaluru is due to addition of more active cases over the days," said Sudhakar.

As per the guidelines, patients with mild symptoms and below 50 years of age will be under home isolation.

"A centralised system has been set up to allocate beds in state-run and private hospitals for admitting patients on priority. A nodal officer will oversee it," said the minister.

Advising people not to panic but visit the nearest fever clinic if they have symptoms, Sudhakar said about 400 ambulances would be deployed, with 2 in each of the 198 civic wards across the city.

Tele-consultation facility will be made available to help the people consult the doctors from their home.

"Legal action will be taken against those violating home isolation guidelines and funeral guidelines," added Sudhakar.