Amid Delta+ spike, K’taka tightens curbs for visitors from Maha, Kerala

Bengaluru In a bid to restrict the spread of the new Delta Plus variant of the novel coronavirus, the Karnataka government on Tuesday made it mandatory for all travellers coming into the state from neighbouring Maharashtra to carry Covid-19 negative certificates

Bengaluru In a bid to restrict the spread of the new Delta Plus variant of the novel coronavirus, the Karnataka government on Tuesday made it mandatory for all travellers coming into the state from neighbouring Maharashtra to carry Covid-19 negative certificates.

HT Image

“Negative RT-PCR certificate not older than 72 hours or vaccination certificate of at least one dose of Covid-19 shall be compulsorily produced by the passengers coming to Karnataka by flight, bus, train, taxi, personal transport, etc. This will also be applicable for all the flights originating from Maharashtra to Karnataka,” according to the guidelines released on Tuesday.

The state government directed that airlines shall issue boarding passes only to passengers carrying RT-PCR negative certificates or proof of at least one dose of vaccination.

Similarly, district authorities in regions like Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Mysuru also have imposed similar restrictions on those coming in from neighbouring Kerala, which like Maharashtra, continues to reel under the impact of the pandemic.

Dr K Sudhakar, Karnataka’s minister for health, family welfare and medical education on Tuesday travelled to Kodagu, Mysuru and Dakshina Kannada districts and held meetings with officials to review the Covid-19 situation there.

“Among the ones (districts), these places have a high positivity and there have been higher deaths. On this, I called for a meeting to discuss the same,” Sudhakar said on Tuesday.

The minister said that the positivity in Mysuru was coming down but the fatality rate continues to remain at 3.85%. Sudhakar has also directed officials to undertake a death audit in the district, which is about 125 kms from Bengaluru.

One of the two Delta Plus variants in Karnataka is from Mysuru district and Sudhakar said that a genome sequencing lab will be set up in the district.

Karnataka has seen a steady decline of new Covid-19 infections in recent weeks, prompting the BS Yediyurappa-led government to ease lockdown restrictions that have been in place since mid-April.

Sudhakar also said that he will visit Delhi to meet union government ministers and officials to request a higher allocation of vaccines for Karnataka.

Karnataka has administered a total of 2,24,58,057 doses of Covid-19 vaccines until 7.47 pm on Tuesday, according to data from the CoWin portal.

Of this, the first dose accounts for 1,87,76,663 while the second dose accounts for 36,81,394, data shows. The state administered 2,51,185 doses until 7.47 pm on Tuesday, according to information on CoWin.

“I will be visiting Delhi in the coming days and will be discussing with the union health minister to allocate more vaccines to the State. But I have never said we are short of vaccines in the State and we have never stopped vaccinating people. Everyday over 2-3L people are being vaccinated. The moment we get vaccines from the union government, we will distribute them,” Sudhakar said.

The minister claimed that no other state has administered as many vaccines as Karnataka had in south India. Karnataka was placed in the ‘fourth or the fifth position’ in the entire country, he said. The health minister’s denial of any shortage of vaccines in Karnataka came amidst suspension of the vaccination programme in government hospitals and primary health centres (PHCs) in Mysuru for the third consecutive day on Tuesday.

“I have never said we are short of vaccines in the state, and we have never stopped vaccinating people. Every day over 2-3 lakh people are being vaccinated. The moment we get vaccines from the union government, we will distribute them,” he said.

Karnataka recorded 3,222 more infections, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department, released on Tuesday.

The positivity rate stood at 2.54% as the state conducted over 126,000 tests, including 83,874 RT-PCR tests.There were 14,724 recoveries that brought down the active caseload to 85,997, government data shows.

The fatality rate continues to be high at 2.88% as 93 more succumbed to the virus, taking the toll to 34,929.

Bengaluru recorded 753 new infections, 10,722 recoveries and 16 deaths which brings down its active caseload to 52,445 and toll to 15,615.