The Karnataka Health Department said they had tested all travelers who came to the state from the UK on December 20-21, and the results of their tests are awaited.
The Karnataka government on Wednesday issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for returnees from the UK, which includes RT-PCR testing at airports for each traveler out of the country and isolation in a separate unit of an institutional facility for positive cases prescribes. “Passengers who tested positive must be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate (isolation) unit that is coordinated by the respective district health authorities / BBMP,” says a SOP published 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 ‘institutional quarantined’ in separate quarantine centers and tested on day 0 and day 7 of the most recent Contact with the positive COVID-19 traveler, “added the SOP.
All travelers traveling to India via the UK will also be tested for the virus. India has suspended all passenger flights to the UK from Wednesday through December 31 or until further orders. The Karnataka Health Department said it tracked and tested all travelers who came to the state from the UK on December 20-21. The results of their tests are awaited.
Yediyurappa said anyone traveling to the state and arriving at Bengaluru or Mangaluru airports from abroad must have an RT-PCR COVID-19 negative certificate, which should have been issued 72 hours prior to their departure time.
Health Minister K Sudhakar said anyone who has come to the state from the UK since November 25 will be subject to mandatory 28-day surveillance and will have to self-quarantine. From November 25 to December 22, a total of 2,500 people have come to the state on two flights, Air India and British Airways.
Over reports that some people who have come from the UK have tested positive for the coronavirus, the minister said information is still awaited while tests are being conducted.
Amid concern over the new strain of coronavirus, Union Health Minister Rajesh Bhushan held a video conference meeting to review the status of passengers from the UK, noting they had arrived in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Goa were. Punjab, Gujarat and Kerala.