Amid rise in cases, state makes Covid negative report mandatory for travellers from Punjab, Chandigarh

Bengaluru The Karnataka government on Monday made Covid-19 negative certificate mandatory for people travelling to the state from Punjab and Chandigarh, as a measure to contain the spike of infections

Bengaluru The Karnataka government on Monday made Covid-19 negative certificate mandatory for people travelling to the state from Punjab and Chandigarh, as a measure to contain the spike of infections. The state has already issued orders making Covid-19 negative certificates mandatory for people coming in from Kerala and Maharashtra.

HT Image

“Recently, a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases has been witnessed in Punjab and Chandigarh. The matter has been examined in consultation with the Technical Advisory Committee and it was felt that it has now become necessary to apply the same guidelines for the passengers coming from Punjab and Chandigarh as well,” the state government said in a circular on Monday.

Karnataka has seen a sharp spike in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases since the beginning of March. Bengaluru in particular has reported the sharpest spike in the state, adding to the speculation of partial restrictions or an imminent lockdown.

“Strict restrictions are being imposed to contain the second wave of Covid-19. But the situation still doesn’t warrant semi-lockdown or full-fledged lockdown,” K Sudhakar, Karnataka’s health & family welfare and medical education minister, said on Monday. He added that discussions were on to increase the penalty for those not wearing masks.

The state government said that three Covid care centres will be opened in Bengaluru this week. “We can contain (a) second wave if people cooperate,” Sudhakar said.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru reported 886 new cases in 24 hours on Sunday, a marginal reduction from the day before, taking the city’s total active cases to 9888, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department.

The coastal district of Udupi continued to see a surge with 113 new cases being reported on Sunday, taking the total active caseload to 439.

Mysuru, about 125 km from Bengaluru, reported 61 new cases, while Kalaburagi saw 43 new cases.

Mysuru deputy commissioner & district magistrate Rohini Sindhuri on Monday said the administration was contemplating to implement mini-lockdowns in localities with high number of infections.

“We will find out where there are more infections and in such places we are thinking of doing mini-containment zones and possibly mini-lockdowns as well,” she said in Mysuru on Monday.

Sindhuri said the health minister has already declared that Karnataka is undergoing a second wave and that it will not take long to peak. She said the district administration is conducting RT-PCR tests on all residents and will initiate testing in schools as well.

A total of 1,445 new cases were reported from across Karnataka, taking the total active cases to 14,267. With 10 more deaths reported on Sunday, the state’s toll jumped to 12,444.

Sudhkar said a decision regarding opening of educational institutions will be taken after consulting the chief minister.