COVID-19: K’taka calls for self-isolation of all int’l arrivals
Bengaluru: Karnataka government on Friday appealed to people returning from COVID-19 affected countries to remain in home isolation for a fortnight, irrespective of symptoms, an official said on Friday.
“A decision has been taken that strict 14 day home quarantine should be done for all asymptomatic international passengers arriving in Karnataka from all the COVID-19 affected countries. The symptomatic passengers will be medically managed as per protocol by the health department,” state health department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) special officer Suresh Shastri told IANS.
He also called for self-notification to nearest government hospital or informing 104 health helpline.
Shastri exhorted the need to maintain personal hygiene, using tissue paper or handkerchief while coughing and sneezing, frequently washing hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer and avoiding attending mass social gatherings.
By 4 p.m. on Friday, Karnataka continues to be grappling with six coronavirus positive cases.
Karnataka government identified 30 high risk contacts of the deceased 76-year-old man from Kalaburgi who was affected with COVID-19, including the private hospital staff where he was initially treated.
Four of the 30 contacts have been isolated at a hospital in Kalaburgi with their samples being sent for testing.
Meanwhile, the five positive coronavirus patients in Karnataka continue to be in isolation at hospital and are stable.
Currently, seven people are being monitored under isolation at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases and two more in other hospitals.
In the district hospitals, four people are being monitored at Hassan, seven in Dakshina Kannada, one each in Ballari, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu, four in Kalaburgi and five in Udupi.
In total, across the state, 32 people are quarantined in hospitals.
“As many as 639 samples of symptomatic persons were collected for testing and 540 samples have returned negative,” said an official statement.
Nearly 1,012 people are going through home quarantine across the state while 1,345 people have enrolled for observation.
Across the state, 1.05 lakh passengers have been thermal-screened for the virus till now at the Kempegowda International Airport in the city and the Mangaluru International Airport.
Another 5,394 passengers were also checked for the virus at Karwar and Mangaluru seaports.
Meanwhile, the state government also disseminated the movement flowchart of all six positive coronavirus cases in the state, right form the time of their arrival in India for the cases which arrived from abroad.
Karnataka Health and Family Welfare department clearly traced their activities such as the places they visited and the people they met till the time they tested positive for COVID-19.
The flowcharts detailed the movement of the family of three people, the deceased Kalaburgi person, the 26-year-old Googler and the Mindtree employee.
The city civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagare Palike (BBMP), has also reiterated all the lockdown conditions through a notification which Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa declared in the afternoon on Friday.
The South Western Railway (SWR) has also set up coronavirus helpdesks at two railway stations, including Gadag.
