Karnataka issued a fresh set of quarantine rules for people travelling to the state.
Karnataka has issued a fresh set of guidelines and quarantine rules for people travelling to the state from other states and from outside the country. The state government has also revised the coronavirus testing protocols after the last update on May 20.
People coming from Maharashtra, who are above 60 and those with co-morbidities, must take the coronavirus test between the fifth and the seventh day of arrival even if they are asymptomatic or do not show symptoms of COVID-19. Others need to take the test only if they show symptoms during the quarantine period.
Those coming from Maharashtra - the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in India - will have to spend seven days in institutional quarantine, followed by a home quarantine for the same period.
There are, however, exemptions from institutional quarantine for those who are coming from Maharashtra and are above 60 or have co-morbid conditions. Special categories include passengers who have death in the family, pregnant women, children under 10, people above 60, people with a serious illness and those in "human distress".
Special category persons from Maharashtra, who are excempted from institutional quarantine, should be quarantined at home for 14 days after swab collection immediately on arrival in Karnataka. An attendant is to be permitted to accompany the special category persons.
Travellers from Maharashtra who have tested negative for corornavirus in the last two days before reaching Karnataka too need not spend time in institutional quarantine. They should, instead, go for a 14-day home quarantine.
People entering Karnataka from other states will be required to spend 14 days in home quarantine. They need to take the coronavirus test only if they develop symptoms. People should take institutional quarantine if home quarantine is not possible because they don't have a separate room at home or are staying with a large family or are living in a slum or overcrowded areas.
All international passengers have to go for institutional quarantine for seven days followed by home quarantine for seven days. In addition to this, all international passengers have to be to be tested for coronavirus once between the fifth and the seventh day of arrival even if they are asymptomatic.
Business travellers are exempted from institutional quarantine given they show a return ticket of a date within 7 days. Karnataka has also expanded its coronavirus testing to all patients who have with ILI 9 influenza-like-illness) symptoms as per doctor's advice and to all healthworkers with influenza-like-illness symptoms even outside containment zones.
The new guidelines were issued on a day when places of worship, malls and restaurants re-opened in most states as part of what it called "Unlock1". In Karnataka, places of worship opened to the public, with restrictions in place and new protocols like the use of sanitisers. Karnataka had asked permission to open places of worship from June 1 but waited for a week after the centre came out with its guidelines. With restaurants open for dining in, people were also seen slowly venturing out to eat out.