Karnataka govt orders surveillance on Japan, Thai passengers

Bengaluru: Amid fresh COVID-19 concerns, the Karnataka government on Saturday instructed officials to initiate surveillance measures for those arriving from Japan and Thailand, including RT-PCR tests for symptomatic cases at the airport testing laboratory.

Screening, surveillance and tele-monitoring for certain international arrivals have been instructed as per the recommendations of the State COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). At Bengaluru International Airport and Mangaluru International Airport, the arrivals from the above-mentioned countries should undergo thermal screening upon arrival, a government circular said.

Testing through RT-PCR should be done for the symptomatic persons at the airport testing laboratory and for those found positive, the samples shall be sent for genome sequencing. Further treatment and management of COVID patients is to be followed as per the state government protocol, it added.

According to the circular, at the district and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) level, tele-monitoring of the international passengers (from Japan and Thailand) should be done at their respective districts for 14 days through call centre. If the person develops symptoms during the follow-up period, testing, treatment and management of the case should be taken up as per the protocol by the district teams, and the positive samples shall be sent for genome sequencing.

The circular signed by Principal Secretary to Health and Family Welfare T K Anil Kumar said the COVID-19 situation in Karnataka is well under control, with a daily average of 110 cases and test positivity rate ranging between 0.9 and 1.1 per cent, and currently 2 per cent of international arrivals from designated countries are screened randomly at airports, as per guidelines of the Government of India.

Noting that in view of the recent spurt of COVID-19 cases in China, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand, Russia and South Korea, further surveillance may be required, it said and added that of the eight countries, direct flight services to Bengaluru are available only from Japan and Thailand. Hence, it is instructed to initiate the following surveillance measures for those arriving from Japan and Thailand.