The Karnataka government on July 1 issued an order making an RT-PCR negative certificate not less than 72 hours old mandatory for travellers coming to Karnataka from Kerala. This is applicable for those coming in via flight, train, taxi, and personal transport with exemptions for those who have taken both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The decision was taken in the 112th meeting of the State COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and comes days after measures were announced to restrict travel from Maharashtra to Karnataka.
Travellers from both Kerala and Maharashtra will now have to carry negative RT-PCR test certificates to enter Karnataka. However, there is a key difference between the surveillance measures announced for the two states. While those who have taken one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination are exempted to travel from Maharashtra into the state without a negative RT-PCR report, the same is not applicable for travellers from Kerala. To enter the state from Kerala, only those who have taken both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are exempted from the surveillance measures.
Children, constitutional functionaries and healthcare professionals are exempted from producing negative RT-PCR certificates. In case of emergencies, like death in the family or medical treatment, swabs of the passengers will be taken upon their arrival in Karnataka for coronavirus testing.
Reports of the delta variant of the coronavirus in Kerala were cited as the reason for the decision taken by the Karnataka government. COVID-19 cases in Karnataka have dipped in recent weeks with the state reporting 3,382 cases on June 30 which included 813 cases in Bengaluru. Kerala reported 13,658 COVID-19 cases on the same day.
Karnataka's seven-day average COVID-19 cases reported is 3,478 compared to Kerala's 11,703.
TNM had earlier reported that Karnataka had increased surveillance measures in districts which share a border with Kerala. These are Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Mysuru. In Dakshina Kannada, which shares a border with Kerala’s Kasaragod district, the Talapady border is just 22 km from Mangaluru city and thousands of people cross the border every day for work in Mangaluru.