The Karnataka government on Saturday said that it will test passengers arriving from South Africa, Botswana, and Hong Kong for coronavirus ...
The Karnataka government on Saturday said that it will test passengers arriving from South Africa, Botswana, and Hong Kong for coronavirus amid growing concerns over the new Omicron variant of the virus, NDTV reported, citing a government circular. Those who test positive will be placed under 10-day quarantine.
The government has also asked passengers arriving from Maharashtra and Kerala to show RT-PCR test reports before entering Karnataka.
“No entry into the cities for those who test positive,” Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai said, according to The Indian Express. “Those who test positive at airports would be sent to hospitals for treatment.”
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government had sent samples of two South African passengers, who had tested positive for the virus in Bengaluru on November 20, for genome sequencing, NDTV reported. They were infected by the Delta variant.
The call for rigorous testing of international passengers for coronavirus in Karnataka comes a day after the Centre’s direction for the same to all the states.
The central government had said that the new variant of coronavirus, Omicron, could have serious public health implications for India. The new strain has been classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization on Saturday.
A “variant of concern” has the highest threat perception among other coronavirus variants because of its increased transmissibility, infectivity,...
