All international passengers coming to Karnataka should be under home isolation for a period of 14 days from the date of arrival in India. They have to call on the toll free helpline Arogya Sahayavani (104) twice a day and inform them of their medical condition.
An order issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare stated that after the 14-day period, they will enter the ‘reporting period’ where it will be mandatory for them to call Arogya Sahayavani and update them on their health status once a day.
The order also states if any passenger is symptomatic and has fever, cough, sore throat, running nose or breathing difficulty, he or she will be taken to isolation wards in identified hospitals for drawing samples and necessary medical follow-up. This applies to passengers who have come in the last 14 days and those who will arrive in the next couple of days.
While the Chief Minister had initially stated that the mandatory 14-day quarantine would apply to passengers from 12 countries which had heavy incidence of COVID-19 positive cases, it has now been decided to make this applicable to passengers from all countries.
“All the positive cases in Karnataka are from other countries. Therefore it was decided to do universal home isolation for all asymptomatic passengers for a period of 14 days,” the order stated.
The health department has reserved 20 lines of their helpline to receive calls pertaining to COVID-19. Of these, 10 lines are reserved to attend calls from international passengers and to get updates on their health status. They have so far received 19,143 calls to give details on COVID-19.
