The Karnataka government has announced mandatory institutional quarantine of three days for those coming from Delhi and Tamil Nadu, followed by 11 days of home quarantine.
In an order issued late on Monday, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar said that those coming from Maharashtra would continue to have institutional quarantine for seven days, followed by seven days of home quarantine. Those travelling from other States would have 14 days of home quarantine as earlier.
Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa chaired a high-level meeting of Ministers and senior State administration officials to deliberate on measures to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the Chief Minister pointed out that of the total of over 7,000 cases reported in the State, as many as 4,386 were travellers from Maharashtra and 1,340 were their contracts. Further, 216 people who tested positive were those who came from abroad, while 87 cases and 67 cases were reported from those who came from Delhi and Tamil Nadu, respectively.
“A system will be in place to ensure that home quarantine rules are strictly adhered to. As many as 8,000 booth-level task force will be set up to identify persons suffering from various illnesses and precautionary measures will be taken,” the Chief Minister said.
The review meeting was called in the light of increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru, the Chief Minister’s office said.
Mr. Yediyurappa also said that a special task force for Bengaluru and neighbouring districts had been set up to monitor the pandemic. “There is an indication that the virus spread could increase, and efforts are being made to contain it. People should cooperate,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also clarified that there was no plan to impose lockdown again in the State. “In fact, we are going to seek further relaxation from the lockdown guidelines during our videoconference with the Prime Minister. The cases have increased because of people coming into the State from outside,” he said.
