The Karnataka government has issued an order on Sunday making it mandatory for those arriving from Kerala and Maharashtra to produce a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours.
The order will be applicable to everyone entering Karnataka irrespective of their vaccination status.
The decision is taken in light of a new cluster of Covid-19 cases detected at educational institutions at Dharwad, Bengaluru, and Mysuru districts, read the order.
"Students arriving from Kerala to Medical and Paramedical colleges and other such institutions within Karnataka in the past 15 days (Nov 12 to Nov 27) shall be subjected to RT-PCR test," the order said.
Therefore, as per the order, those who will arrive now onwards will be subjected to a mandatory RT-PCR test on the 7th day of arrival.
The Deputy Commissioners of districts bordering Kerala state have been asked to ensure that already established check posts are active and taking up 100 per cent screening of all those arriving from Kerala.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Sunday said that the state government has started thorough airport screening and strong vigilance of those travelling from South Africa, Hong Kong, Botswana and other European countries, which have witnessed the new COVID variant.
"We have started thorough airport screening & strong vigilance of those travelling from South Africa, Hong Kong, Botswana and other European countries, which have witnessed the new COVID variant," Sudhakar said.
"PM Modi, in a meeting yesterday, guided and gave directions to all the vulnerable bordering districts. We have sent all the samples of travellers and colleges students who tested positive, to 3-4 genomic sequencing labs and are awaiting results for 5-6 days," he added.
In a high-level meeting chaired on Saturday by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, the state government has been decided to intensify the screening of international passengers at the airports and make the RTPCR test reports compulsory for those arriving from Kerala and Maharashtra.
During the meeting, Bommai also instructed the officials to go on an aggressive campaign to trace those who have not taken the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and cover them at the earliest.
A total of 322 fresh COVID-19 cases and three deaths were reported in Karnataka on Saturday
(With agency inputs)
