Karnataka’s Health Department said it had screened all travelers who came to the state from the UK on December 20 and 21 and their test results are awaited.
The Karnataka government on Wednesday issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for returnees from the UK, requiring RT-PCR testing at airports for every traveler in the country and isolation in a separate unit of an institutional facility for the positive cases. “Passengers who test positive will be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate (isolation) unit coordinated by the respective District Health Authorities / BBMP,” read a POE issued by the state health department.
“All contacts (without exception) of those travelers who arrived at various airports between December 21 and 23 and tested positive would be subjected to ‘institutional quarantine’ in separate quarantine centers and would be evaluated on day 0 and Day 7 of most recent COVID-19 positive traveler contact, “added the SOP.
All travelers transiting to India via the UK will also be screened for the virus. India suspended all passenger flights connecting the UK from Wednesday to December 31 or until new orders are placed. Karnataka’s Health Department said it had tracked and screened all travelers who came to the state from the UK on December 20 and 21. The results of your tests are awaited.
Yediyurappa said that all those traveling to the state and arriving at Bengaluru or Mangaluru airports from abroad must have a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 certificate that should have been obtained 72 hours before departure time.
Health Minister K Sudhakar said that all those who have arrived in the state from the UK since November 25 will be mandatorily monitored for 28 days, adding that they must be quarantined. A total of 2,500 people have arrived in the state from November 25 to December 22 on two flights, Air India and British Airways.
On reports that a couple of people who came from the UK tested positive for the coronavirus, the minister said information is still awaited while the tests are carried out.
Amid concerns about the new strain of coronavirus, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the status of passengers from the UK at a meeting via video conference and discovered that they had arrived in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Goa. Punjab, Gujarat and Kerala.
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