7-day home quarantine must for flyers to K'taka from high-risk countries; details here
Bengaluru, Dec 31: The Karnataka government on Saturday issued revised guidelines against COVID infections among people coming from high-risk countries.
The guidelines say that 7 days of home quarantine is mandatory for those coming from high-risk countries from the time of their arrival.
The government has made negative COVID status a must for passengers coming from those nations.
The government decided to enhance surveillance and containment effort within the State by tracking and quarantining the primary and secondary contacts of the COVID-positive persons.
"The international travellers from high-risk countries - China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand - need to be home quarantined for 7 days from the date of their arrival. Once tested positive, the infected people are to be treated and managed as per the State COVID protocol," said a circular from Health Department meant for the international passengers.
Further, it said the RT-PCR certificate of each passenger should be verified for negative COVID status before allowing them to leave the airport.
Airport authorities should provide necessary assistance in this regard, the Health Department said.
It said the district health officer of Bengaluru Urban district, Bengaluru Rural and Kolar have to depute 5 health information officers (HIO) each from their district to Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru from January 1 on a rotation basis until further orders.
The HIOs would carry out the exercise round the clock for which the district health officers have to make necessary travel arrangements for the deputed staff.
"On arrival if any of the international passengers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand countries are found symptomatic, they shall be immediately isolated and transferred to the designated medical facility for clinical management," the guideline said.
It said the samples should be collected and submitted for RT-PCR testing and for genome sequencing if tested positive in RT-PCR.
Other asymptomatic passengers should leave the airport and self-monitor their health for symptoms and comply with COVID-appropriate behaviour (CAB) like wearing of face masks, social distancing, practise respiratory and hand hygiene, and strictly remain under home quarantine for the next seven days, the guideline added.
"If the passengers develop symptoms like fever, cough, cold, body ache, headache, loss of taste and smell, diarrhoea and breathing difficulty, they shall immediately self-isolate and report to the local surveillance health team for testing," the Health Department said.
"If tested positive, they shall be shifted to the designated medical facility (government or private) for isolation. Positive samples shall be sent for genome sequencing," it added.
If the genome sequencing report shows anyone positive for the BF.7 variant or a new sub-variant, then another sample should be taken for RT-PCR and the person should follow CAB strictly till the results are known, the department said.
"If children below 12 years of age who are exempted from both pre-departure and post-arrival testing develop symptoms on arrival or during the period of self-monitoring and home quarantine for next seven days, they shall follow the same protocol as above for adults except that a parent or guardian in good health shall accompany them and be the care-giver to the child during the period of isolation and treatment as applicable," the guidelines read.
The department said the 10 per cent of the international passengers from the high-risk countries should be monitored through call centre on a daily basis for symptoms and for further action.
The Health Department issued circular for the people of Karnataka in view of rising cases in certain parts of the world.
The measures have been taken in view of the new Variant of Concern (VoC)- XBB and BF-7 spreading rapidly in few countries of the globe and a few cases are reported in India and the State of Karnataka too, it said.
In its circular, the government said the primary contacts and secondary contacts (PC/SC) should be quarantined within 24 hours of identification at their designated places or home.
According to the Health Department, currently about 30 to 40 cases are being reported daily in Karnataka and the test positivity rate (TPR) has been around 0.5 per cent to 0.7 per cent for the past five months.
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BJP worker’s 16-year-old son allegedly casts eight votes in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad; Video viral
Lucknow (Farrukhabad): A viral video has surfaced showing a 16-year-old son of a BJP worker allegedly casting eight votes to the saffron party during the ongoing general elections in Uttar Pradesh. The video has sparked controversy, and the opposition has urged for prompt action from the Election Commission of India, reports scroll.in.
The video shared by the Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on micro-blogging site ‘X’, showed the youngster recording himself while casting multiple times in a series of instances. The incident reportedly took place in Khiri Pamaran village, which falls under the Aliganj Assembly constituency within the Farrukhabad parliamentary seat. Mukesh Rajput, the sitting MP, is the BJP candidate in this constituency. Polling in Farrukhabad occurred on May 13 during the fourth phase of the general election.
In the viral video, the youngster is seen casting eight votes in total, all for the BJP, one by one with different clippings.
The youngster in the video has been identified as Rajan Singh Thakur, confirmed his father, Anil Singh Thakur to the Scroll.in. Anil Singh Thakur is the gram pradhan (village head) of Khiri Pamaran and a member of the BJP.
Anil defending his son told the Scroll that the ‘Video misrepresented his son,’ and claimed that the voting was done when the machine was being tested in some instances and other clipping of him voting on behalf of mentally and physically disabled voters was merged and made into a video.
Despite the Anil's caims, the video has drawn significant criticism. Subhash Chandra Prajapati, the additional district magistrate of Farrukhabad, confirmed to the Scroll that the administration will file a case soon. He mentioned that the returning officer is investigating the matter following a directive from the chief electoral officer in Lucknow.
The opposition has been vocal in its criticism, with Akhilesh Yadav demanding action from the Election Commission. In his social media post, Yadav accused the BJP of undermining the electoral process and described the party's booth committee as a "loot committee." The Congress party also called on the Election Commission to take action, in a ‘X’ post the party wrote, “Dear Election Commission…are you watching..a boy is voting 8-8 times ... .at least wake up now.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, took to ‘X’ to express, “Fearing and seeing their defeat, the BJP is attempting to undermine democracy by pressuring government machinery to deny the mandate. The Congress expects all officers performing election duties to remember their constitutional responsibilities despite any pressure from those in power. Otherwise, once the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc government is formed, actions will be taken to ensure that anyone will think ten times before violating their 'Oath to the Constitution'."
Following the video's circulation, Naval Kishor Shakya, the Samajwadi Party candidate in Farrukhabad, filed a complaint with the district election officer. Shakya's complaint alleges that Rajan Singh Thakur cast votes after snatching voter information slips from other voters and that he was assisted by Dinesh Thakur, the local police station's station house officer. Shakya has called for re-polling at the affected polling center.
In a related incident earlier in May, Gujarat Police arrested two BJP workers for allegedly casting bogus votes and live-streaming the act on social media in the Dahod constituency. The Election Commission conducted re-polling at the affected booth following the incident.
The opposition INDIA bloc, including the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of failing to take prompt action against election model code of conduct violations.
अपनी हार सामने देख कर भाजपा जनादेश को झुठलाने के लिए सरकारी तंत्र पर दबाव बना कर लोकतंत्र को लूटना चाहती है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 19, 2024
कांग्रेस चुनावी ड्यूटी कर रहे सभी अधिकारियों से यह अपेक्षा करती है कि वो सत्ता के दबाव के सामने अपनी संवैधानिक ज़िम्मेदारी न भूलें।
वरना INDIA की सरकार बनते ही ऐसी… https://t.co/fk4wXL8QZy
