Bengaluru, Jul 3 (IANS): Concerned over rising Covid-19 cases in the state, Karnataka would ramp up testing to detect infected people early for isolating and quarantining them for treatment, said state Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar on Thursday.

"Though we have increased testing since April, we are ramping up the lab capacity to test more people daily to ascertain if they are infected or not," Sudhakar told reporters here.

The southern state has about 80 labs, including 44 state-run and 36 private to ramp up testing to 20,000 samples a day from 15,000 samples daily.

According to the health bulletin, of the 16,210 samples tested on Thursday, 14,470 turned negative, while 1,502 reported positive for Covid-19.

Of the 6,53,627 cumulative sample tested since March 10 across the state, 6,19,292 were negative, while 18,016 reported positive.

Of the 1,502 positive cases across the state, Bengaluru accounted for 889.

With 8,334 cured and discharged, including 271 on Thursday, active cases in the state are 9,406, while 272 died of the virus, including 19 during the day.

By making private hospitals and nursing homes allot 50 per cent of their beds to treat Covid-19 patients, the state government has also increase their capacity.

"Though asymptomatic cases will be isolated for home quarantine, we have increased beds by roping in private hospitals across the state to admit positive cases," asserted Sudhakar.

Unveiling a testing lab at Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences in the state's northwest district through video conference from here, Sudhakar said around 1.5 lakh households were surveyed so far to detect asymptomatic and identify vulnerable persons.

Gadag is about 380 km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.

The Medical Council of India has permitted the Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences to offer post-graduate courses within 5 years of its inception.