The Karnataka government has tweaked quarantine requirements for people arriving from Maharashtra, raising the isolation time from a fortnight to three weeks, an official said on Wednesday.
"Returnees from Maharashtra will be sent to institutional quarantine for seven days, followed by 14 days strict home quarantine, (for a) total (of) 21 days," tweeted Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey.
The 21-day quarantine regimen is for all asymptomatic people returning from Maharashtra, considering most of the COVID-19 cases reported in Karnataka are having domestic travel history to that state.
This comes after Karnataka saw fresh cases of coronavirus after their quarantine period was finished.
If any of the asymptomatic people develop symptoms during the isolation, they will be subjected to a COVID-19 test.
However, some asymptomatic individuals from Maharashtra have been provided exceptions from the three-week quarantine and designated as special category passengers.
Special category passengers include people who suffered a death in the family, pregnant women, children below 10, elderly people above 60, individuals suffering from serious illness and human distress.
Similarly, the department has made provisions for business travellers from Maharashtra.
"To establish that one is a business visitor, (the) person should show confirmed return flight or train ticket which should not be more than seven days later from the date of arrival," ordered Chief Secretary of Karnataka T M Vijay Bhaskar last week.
Similarly, if a business visitor is arriving by road, he should provide address proof of the person in Karnataka he intends to meet.
Additionally, such a person should also produce a COVID-negative test certificate which is not more than two days old.
"(If) one does not have a COVID-negative test certificate, such a person should go for institutional quarantine for two days within which (the) COVID test should be conducted at his own cost. After the test result is negative, that person is exempted from quarantine," he said.
However, business travellers have been exempted from hand stamping.
The conditions for visitors from other states remain mostly unchanged as notified on Sunday.