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Karnataka Minister of Health and Medical Education Dr K Sudhakar said on Wednesday that all international passengers arriving in the State would have to take an RT-PCR test at the airport.
Dr Sudhakar said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has been advised to make RT-PCR test mandatory for anyone coming from abroad. If the test report is negative, travellers can go home and quarantine for seven days, during which they will be monitored.
Those who test negative and are symptomatic will be re-tested on the 5th day. They can emerge from quarantine only if they test negative after seven days. If they test positive, they will be hospitalised. Passengers may face some delay because of the mandatory test, but it is unavoidable, the Minister said.
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If found infected with the Omicron variant, they will be treated in special isolation wards at hospitals. The government has held talks with hospitals and medical colleges. The Health Department has convened a meeting with district officials to suggest measures in this regard, Dr Sudhakar told mediapersons.
Booster dose
On December 2 or 3, Bommai will meet the Union Health Minister in Delhi to discuss offering a booster dose for Health Department staff and other frontline workers. Tele-medicine, increasing the number of tests, mask mandates and other safety guidelines will be strictly enforced, said Dr Sudhakar.
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The state Covid technical advisory committee has advised the government to penalise those who haven’t taken two doses of the vaccine. However, the government aims to instead sensitise and vaccinate them. The number of people taking the vaccine has been increasing over the past two days. The house-to-house vaccine mitra programme is picking up, the Minister added.
Dr Sudhakar also said that, as of now, it was unclear how Omicron will impact children. “But we know that it is a very fast-spreading virus. The central government is also contemplating on the child vaccine. The vaccine is expected to be available in all states at the earliest,” he added.
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