10% of international travelers from high-risk countries should be monitored daily for symptoms. (file)
Bengaluru:
The Karnataka government on Saturday issued revised guidelines against COVID infection in people coming from high-risk countries. The guidelines state that 7 days home quarantine is mandatory for those coming from high-risk countries from the time of their arrival. The government has made negative COVID status mandatory for passengers coming from those countries.
The government decided to scale up the surveillance and containment effort within the state by tracking and quarantining primary and secondary contacts of COVID positive persons.
“International travelers from high-risk countries – China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand are required to home quarantine for 7 days from their date of arrival. Once tested positive, infected people should be treated and managed as per the state’s COVID protocols,” said a circular from the health department for international travelers.
Further, it said that the RT-PCR certificate of each passenger should be verified for negative COVID status before being allowed to exit the airport.
The health department said that the airport authorities should provide necessary assistance in this regard.
It said that the District Health Officer of Bengaluru Urban District, Bengaluru Rural and Kolar are to depute 5 Health Information Officers (HIO) from their district to Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru with effect from January 1 on rotation basis till further orders.
The HIOs will conduct the exercise round the clock, for which the District Health Officers will have to make necessary travel arrangements for the deputed staff.
The guideline states, “If any international passenger arriving from the countries of China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand is found to have symptoms, they shall be immediately isolated and sent for clinical management.” Will be shifted to the designated medical facility.”
It added that samples should be collected for RT-PCR test and submitted for genome sequencing if they test positive in RT-PCR.
Other asymptomatic passengers should leave the airport and self-monitor their health for symptoms and follow COVID-appropriate behavior (CAB) such as wearing face masks, practicing social distancing, respiratory and hand hygiene, and Must remain strictly in home quarantine for the next seven. day, guideline added.
The Health Department said, “If passengers develop symptoms such as fever, cough, cold, body ache, headache, loss of taste and smell, diarrhea and difficulty in breathing, they should immediately isolate themselves and get tested.” should report to the local surveillance health team.” Said.
“If tested positive, they will be shifted to a designated medical facility (government or private) for isolation. Positive samples will be sent for genome sequencing,” it added.
The department said that if the genome sequencing report shows someone positive for BF.7 or the new sub-variant, then another sample should be taken for RT-PCR and the person should follow CAB strictly till the result is out.
“If children under 12 years of age who have been exempted from both pre-departure and post-arrival testing develop symptoms upon arrival or during the period of self-monitoring and home quarantine for the next seven days, They have to follow the above protocol. Except for adults, a parent or guardian in good health shall accompany and be the caretaker of the child during the period of isolation and treatment,” read the guidelines.
The department said that 10 per cent international passengers arriving from high-risk countries should be monitored on a daily basis through the call center for symptoms and further action.
In view of increasing cases in some parts of the world, the health department issued a circular for the people of Karnataka.
This measure has been taken in view of the rapid spread of New Variants of Concern (VoC) – XBB and BF-7 in some countries of the world and some cases have also been reported in India and the state of Karnataka.
In its circular, the government said that primary contacts and secondary contacts (PC/SC) should be quarantined at their designated places or home within 24 hours of identification.
According to the health department, currently around 30 to 40 cases are being reported daily in Karnataka and the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) has been around 0.5 per cent to 0.7 per cent for the past five months.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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