COVID-19: K'taka govt orders surveillance measures for passengers arriving from Japan, Thailand
Bengaluru(PTI): Amid fresh COVID-19 concerns, the Karnataka government on Saturday instructed officials to initiate surveillance measures for those arriving from Japan and Thailand, including RT-PCR tests for symptomatic cases at the airport testing laboratory.
Screening, surveillance and tele-monitoring for certain international arrivals have been instructed as per the recommendations of the State COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
At Bengaluru International Airport and Mangaluru International Airport, the arrivals from the above-mentioned countries should undergo thermal screening upon arrival, a government circular said.
Testing through RT-PCR should be done for the symptomatic persons at the airport testing laboratory and for those found positive, the samples shall be sent for genome sequencing.
Further treatment and management of COVID patients is to be followed as per the state government protocol, it added.
According to the circular, at the district and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) level, tele-monitoring of the international passengers (from Japan and Thailand) should be done at their respective districts for 14 days through call centre.
If the person develops symptoms during the follow-up period, testing, treatment and management of the case should be taken up as per the protocol by the district teams, and the positive samples shall be sent for genome sequencing.
The circular signed by Principal Secretary to Health and Family Welfare T K Anil Kumar said the COVID-19 situation in Karnataka is well under control, with a daily average of 110 cases and test positivity rate ranging between 0.9 and 1.1 per cent, and currently 2 per cent of international arrivals from designated countries are screened randomly at airports, as per guidelines of the Government of India.
Noting that in view of the recent spurt of COVID-19 cases in China, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand, Russia and South Korea, further surveillance may be required, it said and added that of the eight countries, direct flight services to Bengaluru are available only from Japan and Thailand. Hence, it is instructed to initiate the following surveillance measures for those arriving from Japan and Thailand.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
