The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Manjunath Prasad on Tuesday stated that all travellers coming to Bengaluru from Kerala must carry a negative COVID-19 test certificate that is not older than 72 hours. The Commissioner further said that those who arrive from Kerala without a negative RT-PCR test result will be asked to get tested in Bengaluru and quarantine themselves if found to be positive. They will be able to move freely only if their test result comes back negative, Manjunath Prasad said.
The decision comes a week after the Karnataka Health Department issued an order stating 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.
The Commissioner made the announcement about testing in an online meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss the COVID-19 clusters emerging in Bengaluru. The meeting was attended by members of resident welfare associations (RWA). He cited the cluster at Manjushree Nursing College in the city’s RT Nagar, where 42 students tested positive for coronavirus. Many students at the college were from Kerala, officials said.
In another case, 105 residents of an apartment complex in the city’s Bommanahalli zone tested positive for coronavirus, BBMP said. According to officials, those who tested positive had attended a party at the complex.
A cluster of COVID-19 cases was also reported in a nursing college in Mangaluru where 49 students tested positive for the virus two weeks ago. The college — Aaliyah Institute of Nursing — at Ullal in the coastal Dakshina Kannada district was sealed after the cases emerged. In this case too, most students were from Kerala.
The BBMP Commissioner also announced on Monday that testing for coronavirus will be increased in the city. This is in light of the fact that between February 9 and 12, Bengaluru saw an average of 200 cases per day, which increased to an average of 250 over the next few days.