BENGALURU: The Karnataka government, in a fresh circular, has relaxed guidelines for travellers who stay for a couple of days in Maharashtra and return to their hometowns in Karnataka. There will be no relaxation, though, for travellers from Kerala, who will have to submit RT-PCR negative certificates while entering the state.
There have been several requests to the Karnataka government to ease Covid-19 regulations and exempt RT-PCR tests for people returning to Karnataka from Maharashtra. Experts from the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), at a recent meeting, analysed the Covid-19 case patterns in the states, compared them to Karnataka and decided to waive RT-PCR tests for those on short trips to Maharashtra. The RT-PCR negative report, though, is necessary for those returning after prolonged stay in Maharashtra.
According to the GO from the health department, a person should be fully vaccinated, and 14 days should have passed after the second dose, and stay in Maharashtra should be for only two days, to be exempted.
“It is also important that they have no Covid-19 symptoms like fever, cold, cough, throat pain, difficulty in breathing, etc,” the order said.
Meanwhile, they also have to self-monitor their health for seven days on return, and get tested immediately if any Covid-19 symptoms develop. However, experts from TAC said there were also requests for exemption of RT-PCR negative reports for doubly vaccinated farmers and students arriving from Kerala to Karnataka.
But TAC, after comparing the recent data between Kerala and Karnataka, found that test positivity rate in Kerala is above 8 per cent, while in Karnataka it is 0.86 per cent, and recommended that till “Kerala’s TPR reaches 2% or less, it would not be safe to exempt them from RT-PCR reports, failing which the gains made so far by Karnataka may be negated.”