BENGALURU: The Kempegowda International Airport and Mangalore International Airport will not accept international passengers from Sunday onwards, in keeping with the directive on international flights.
A special State Task Force has been formed to review the COVID-19 situation on a daily basis, constituting DyCM Dr Ashwath Narayan, Health Minister B Sriramulu, Medical Education Dr K Sudhakar, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar. These measures were announced by Sudhakar on Thursday.
“A high-level technical committee including Dr S Sacchidanand, director of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Dr C Manjunath, director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, Dr C Nagaraj, director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, Dr V Ravi, senior professor and head of neurovirology at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, and four other experts will look into the purchase of medical equipment needed to tackle the coronavirus, by following standard protocol,” Sudhakar said.
He said that strict action would be taken against pubs and bars for functioning despite orders to shut down, and that their licences would be cancelled. He also said that 10,000 workers will be trained to disinfect BBMPhospitals. House surgeons in medical colleges will be employed for one month.
“I have requested heads of all religious institutions to ban mass gatherings for prayers. Jathres, santhes, weddings, engagements, thread ceremonies should not be held and if they are, the number of people should be restricted to 100-150,” he said.
The transport department has been instructed to educate Ola and Uber drivers on cleanliness. He reassured people living near Broadway Hospital about the setting up of a quarantine facility there. Airport passengers who fall in the high-risk ‘A category’ are sent to hospital, medium-risk ‘B category’ are sent to the government-mandated quarantine centre for 15 days, and low-risk ‘C category’ are home-quarantined.
Those on home quarantine will have a health officer and beat constable to ensure they don’t step out in public. Geo-fencing will be done for those in home-quarantine.
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