The Karnataka government clarified on Thursday that it has not sought for imposing a ban on flights emanating from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
The domestic air travel was resumed in several parts of the country on May 25. The state government also said that it has appealed to the Civil Aviation Ministry to take steps to lessen the incoming air traffic.
"If there is a huge turn out at a short span of time, there may not be adequate quarantine facilities," said the state government.
The clarification comes in the wake of media reports earlier in the day, saying the state cabinet had decided to ban all flights from these five states.
On Thursday evening reports surfaced saying that, Karnataka suspended the arrival of flights, trains and vehicles from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, MP and Rajasthan. This was been done to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
These five states incidentally have some of the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country. As per Health Ministry data on Thursday afternoon, while Maharahstra has recorded the highest number of patients at 56,948 positive cases till date, Tamil Nadu follows 18545 cases and Gujarat has recorded 15,195 cases.
As of Thursday afternoon, Karnataka has recorded 2493 positive cases thus far. Of these 1635 cases remain active, while there have been 47 deaths recorded. As per the mid-day bulletin given by the Karnataka Government, there have been 75 new cases reported since Wednesday evening.
