Hyderabad, Mar 12 (IANS): The Telangana government on Friday decided to ramp up Covid-19 testing in the state in view of the surge in new infections in neighbouring Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Health Minister E. Rajender, who reviewed the Covid situation at a meeting on Friday, directed the health officials to increase the number of daily tests to 50,000.

The minister gave instructions to the officials in view of the mounting cases in neighbouring states and their likely impact on Telangana.

Health Secretary S.A.M. Rizvi, Director, Medical Education Ramesh Reddy and other senior officials attended the meeting. Director, Public Health, Srinivas Rao joined the meeting via video conferencing.

Rajender asked the Health Department to ensure effective implementation of test, trace and treat policy. He directed the officials to ensure that there are no loopholes in the implementation.

The minister issued special instructions to district medical and health officers of Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Adilabad, Asifabad, Mancherial, Jayashankar Bhupalapally and Jagtial districts bordering Maharashtra.

Rajender said Covid vaccination drive will continue in the state. He hoped that remaining groups will also be covered soon by the vaccination.

The minister appealed to people to help the government in checking the spread of Covid. No matter how many steps the government takes, they can yield the desired result only when there is cooperation from people, he said.

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that it is very worried over the situation in Maharashtra, where there is spike in cases in several districts.

Authorities have announced strict lockdown in Nagpur from March 15 to 21.