BENGALURU: Over the past month (July 25 to August 25), there has been a cumulative 4.96 per cent increase in total Covid cases in districts bordering Kerala -- Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar.
The caseload rose from 3.35 lakh to 3.51 lakh during this period.
The highest increase has been in Dakshina Kannada, with a 10.53 per cent rise in the total Covid cases, as the figures went up from 98,323 to 1.08 lakh. Kodagu comes in second with a 6.90 per cent increase, as cases jumped from 32,622 to 34,874.
“For the past month, we have been screening people at the border at 17 checkpoints, two of which are major entry ways, while the others are in rural areas. Police and revenue officials are stationed there and no one from Kerala is allowed without an RT-PCR negative report, not older than 72 hours,” said Dr Kishore Kumar, District Health Officer, Dakshina Kannada.
He said that RT-PCR tests are conducted on the spot, round the clock, at railway stations.
Kerala students with a negative report are allowed to enter the state, but they have to observe seven days of institutional quarantine, following which they are retested.
If they test positive, their primary contacts are traced and isolated.
Apart from allowing only those with negative reports into Kodagu district, 20 per cent of the travellers are put through a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) at the border.
“If found positive, they are sent back to Kerala,” said Dr K Mohan, District Health Officer of Kodagu, adding that the majority of the travellers head to Bengaluru.
Though new cases have increased, the district tally in these four regions and active cases have decreased by 2.66 per cent.
Only Dakshina Kannada witnessed an increase in active cases from 2,010 on July 25 to 2,780 on August 25, while Kodagu, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar saw a decrease.
“Unless there are hard borders, it is difficult to control people trying to enter the state,” pointed out Dr Pradeep Banandur, a member of the Covid Technical Advisory Committee and Additional Professor, Department of Epidemiology, NIMHANS.
“People need to stop unnecessary travel and movement. Even if they test negative, they must self-quarantine while staying in Karnataka. We don’t know why cases in Kerala are high and if we implement strict restrictions, it might not sit well with the other state,” Dr Banandur added.