People coming from Ker, Maha to K’taka to be monitored closely for COVID-19 says Min Sudhakar

Bengaluru: People coming to Karnataka from neighbouring Kerala and Maharashtra, which have seen a spike in COVID-19 cases, will be monitored scrupulously with special attention in the border districts, State Health Minister K Sudhakar on Friday said.

He did not rule out the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 in the State and cautioned the people against any negligence as the pandemic was still not over.

Noting that COVID-19 cases were increasing in Kerala and Maharashtra, he said ”I have written to the Home Minister, also to the Deputy Commissioners of all the border districts and will be having a video conference with them tomorrow.

Special attention has to be given in the districts bordering the two districts,” Sudhakar said.

Speaking to reporters in Chikkaballapura, he said, there was increasing negligence among people and they seemed to have developed a misconception that the COVID-19 has gone, warning of an impending ”danger,” if precautions like wearing masks and maintaining distance are not followed.

”Definitely, COVID has not completely gone, but fortunately, the vaccination has come… all those coming from Kerala and Maharashtra will be monitored scrupulously. Our department has already issued guidelines, those (from Kerala) cannot come without an RT-PCR negative certificate,” he added.

Karnataka earlier this week had issued new guidelines mandating all those coming to the state from Kerala to carry a negative RT-PCR test report not older than 72 hours.

The minister also said soon a meeting will be held under the leadership of the chief minister with Deputy Commissioners of all districts regarding the vaccination and the alertness that has to be maintained in the days to come as there was a possibility of a second wave.

As of Thursday, cumulatively 9,46,860 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in Karnataka which included 12,282 deaths and 9,28,767 discharges. The active cases stood at 5,792.