BENGALURU: With the ongoing surge of Covid-19 cases in several parts of the world, the Karnataka Health Department has sought the imposition of restrictions on air travel from high-risk countries like China, the US, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.
The Karnataka Government is taking all possible precautionary measures to ensure that the Covid situation is well-tackled in case the situation worsens.
However, they are still suggesting the Union Government to introduce international travel restrictions from the countries with a high count of Covid cases. Health Commissioner D Randeep said the same was also highlighted by Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar in the video conference with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The state government even initiated the random screening of international passengers at the airport on December 24. On December 26, 13 international passengers tested positive for Covid.
Randeep said all the passengers had very mild symptoms and are under home isolation. Their test samples have been sent for genome sequencing and their reports are expected on Saturday. The passengers are to remain isolated until then. Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Chairman Dr MK Sudarshan had said that they can only determine if the passengers are infected with the highly-transmissible BF.7 variant, once the genomic sequencing reports come.
With the mock drills in government hospitals initiated on Tuesday and the ongoing symptomatic screening of international passengers at the airport, the health commissioner highlighted that all possible measures are being taken. Even the number of active positive cases in the state and those witnessed in the screening at airports are not high.
Though the health department has requested air travel restrictions, as of now, inter-state restrictions are not expected to be imposed, as no states in India have shown a significant rise in cases.