The Karnataka government on Monday made another change to its policy of quarantining interstate travellers by imposing a 3-day institutional quarantine and 11-day home quarantine for travellers who arrive in the state from New Delhi and Tamil Nadu, two places with a high number of COVID-19 cases. The policy will come into effect starting Monday, June 15, Yediyurappa said.
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced the change after a meeting related to COVID-19 crisis held on Monday.
A week ago on June 8, the state government had issued orders stating that self-registration on the Seva Sindhu portal is mandatory for travelling in and out of the state but added that no approval (or e-pass) was required to travel.
While a seven-day institutional quarantine was announced for those returning from Maharashtra, there was no mandatory institutional quarantine for asymptomatic people returning to Karnataka from other states. Those returning from other states were asked to quarantine themselves at home.
This is now overruled and replaced by the rules announced on Monday. Asymptomatic people returning from New Delhi and Tamil Nadu will now be asked to be in institutional quarantine for three days followed by home quarantine for 11 days. However, the quarantine rules for travellers from Maharashtra will not change as they will continue to follow the same police of seven days of institutional quarantine followed by seven days of home quarantine.
Karnataka has reported 6,516 COVID-19 cases so far. 4,386 cases among these are linked to people who returned from Maharashtra while 1,340 were contacts of existing patients. Among the other cases, 216 people returned to the state from other countries, 87 from New Delhi, 67 from Tamil Nadu and 62 from Gujarat.
"We have to keep an eye on those who come from outside the state. The cases are not spreading among local people in the state," Yediyurappa said.
A 'mask day' will be held on Thursday and a group of film actors and sports personalities will come together at Ambedkar Bhavan near Vidhana Soudha to spread awareness about the need to wear masks.
Yediyurappa stated that the rules of wearing masks and maintaining physical distance would be enforced strictly in the state. He said that this is because 93% of coronavirus cases in the state do not show symptoms and only 7% show visible symptoms of the virus.
"Action will be taken against those who do not wear masks and maintain distancing throughout the state. This will start from a Rs 100 fine imposed on them. Wearing masks is crucial to saving lives," Yediyurappa added.