Bengaluru, Apr 12 (IANS): Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar urged people on Monday to ensure that all their vaccination doses are completed at the earliest after a meeting with the Covid-19 technical advisory committee (TAC) amid a rise in cases of the XE variant of Covid-19 in some foreign countries.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sudhakar said that there is an increase in cases of the XE variant in eight countries, including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the UK and Germany.

After the meeting, Sudhakar said that the TAC has suggested thermal screening, strict surveillance, and mandatory quarantine for a period of 7-10 days for passengers arriving from these eight countries.

The state government will soon release guidelines regarding this.a

Additionally, Sudhakar urged people to wear masks, stating that IIT Kanpur has predicted another Coivd wave around June and July.

"A total of 4.77 crore (98 per cent) people under the 60+ category have taken the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine and only 49 per cent of people have taken their precautionary dose. I urge everyone to please complete all the doses," Sudhakar said.

He said that in the 15-17 age group, 25,11,407 people out of 30,00,000 have taken the vaccine, amounting to 79 per cent, and only 65 per cent have taken the second dose.

Among the 12-14 age group, only 13,96,000 children have received the vaccine out of 20,00,000 amounting to 69 per cent. He urged parents to have their children vaccinated.

As there are no vaccines for young kids, Sudhakar said that 5,000 children will be tested across the state as per the recommendation of the TAC.

"We have received complaints of some hospitals overcharging for vaccines. The government will not tolerate this. A high-level meeting has been held and a committee has been formed in this regard," he said.