In the wake of Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant, the Karnataka government on Monday announced fresh guidelines for international arrivals. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines will be followed in connection with the new strain. The prime minister and health minister have also recommended precautionary measures which will be followed, he said, adding Karnataka has initiated precautionary measures much earlier.
As per the circular released by the Department of Health -
- Travellers coming from 12 'at-risk' countries will undergo RT-PCR tests on arrival
- Home isolation is being made mandatory for seven days and the travellers will also have to undergo re-testing on the eighth day
- International passengers can step out of airports only with a negative test report
- On international arrivals if tested positive, the sample will be sent to genomic sequencing and they will be admitted to a separate isolation facility. They will be discharged at the discretion of the treating physician if the genomic sequencing is negative for B.1.1.529 (Omicron variant)
- For travellers coming from countries excluding those enlisted as countries at-risk, a random sample of five per cent of travellers with negative results will undergo RT-PCR testing on arrival. If tested positive, their samples will be sent to genomic sequencing
- List of countries from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival include all countries in Europe, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabve, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel
- In the case of domestic passengers, it has been directed to conduct RT-PCR tests for those who arrived 15 days earlier from Kerala and Maharashtra. This comes in wake of recent clusters of COVID-19 cases detected at educational institutions at Dharwad, Mysuru districts
- Students from neighbouring states will also undergo repeated RT-PCR tests on the seventh day of their arrival
- The state government has also asked educational institutions to postpone all social, cultural and academic activities
COVID-19 situation in Karnataka
Karnataka on Sunday reported 315 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths, taking the caseload to 29,95,600 and the toll to 38,198. Discharges numbered 236, taking the total number of recoveries to 29,50,542, leaving 6,831 cases, a health department bulletin said.
Bengaluru Urban remained the major contributor of coronavirus cases with 152 fresh infections. Both the deaths were from the city.
Other districts too reported fresh cases, including Dharwad 49, Mysuru 26, Dakshina Kannada 19, Tumakuru 11 and 10 each in Shivamogga and Udupi.
There were zero fatalities in 30 districts.
While 12 districts reported zero infections and nil fatalities, 14 had cases in single digits.
The positivity rate for the day was 0.42 per cent and the Case Fatality Rate was 0.63 per cent, the bulletin said.
A total of 77,818 samples were tested in the state, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 5.31 crore.
The number of vaccinations administered till date rose to 7.32 crore, with 1,83,255 people being inoculated on Sunday, the bulletin said.
(With inputs from IANS)
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