The Karnataka government has announced that students coming from Kerala to Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Mysuru, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts must carry a negative COVID-19 test certificate that is not older than 72 hours. This applies to students living in hostels in Karnataka as well, the Health Department has specified.
Day-scholars from Kerala who enter districts in Karnataka for studies will be tested once in a fortnight, the health department stated. The state government also encouraged educational institutes to conduct online classes for students from Kerala and urged students to avoid travelling to their native places frequently.
The health department also said that COVID-19 cases in northern parts of Kerala were factors in its decision. The order also cited a high positivity rate in RT-PCR tests done in four nursing institutes and 2 engineering institutes in Mangaluru since December 25, 2020. The test positivity rate was 6.8% among 2,806 cases.
The Dakshina Kannada district administration held a meeting on Monday and decided to increase surveillance at the state border with Kerala. The Talapady border is just 22 kilometres south of Mangaluru city and many residents living near the border study in institutes in and around Mangaluru.
Last week, TNM had reported that a college in Mangaluru had 49 COVID-19 cases among students from Kerala. The Aaliyah Institute of Nursing at Ullal was sealed by the city municipality after the cases emerged. After six students tested positive initially, all the students were tested and 43 more COVID-19 cases emerged.
The samples of the students tested were sent to NIMHANS, Bengaluru for genome sequencing to determine if they were infected by a new variant of the novel coronavirus.
During the lockdown imposed over the COVID-19 outbreak last year, an issue was reported between Karnataka and Kerala after Karnataka decided to close the state border even for patients in emergency cases. The dispute was resolved following the intervention of the Supreme Court.