The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the State government to submit data related to passengers arriving from the United Kingdom (U.K.) to the State through international airports at Bengaluru and Mangaluru since December 7, and on steps taken to subject them to RT-PCR tests.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar passed the order while hearing PIL petitions related to issues cropped up during lockdown and COVID-19 health management.
The Bench issued the direction after advocates representing petitioners expressed apprehension about possibility of spread of new strain of COVID-19 from U.K. as already a large number of travellers from U.K. have reached the State and there is an urgent need to subject them to the COVID-19 test.
However, government counsel said that the government on December 21 had already sought from the civil aviation authorities the details of passengers and they would be traced and subjected to RT-PCR tests as per the protocol evolved for this purpose.
Private labs
Meanwhile, the Bench also directed the government to submit the details of action initiated against private laboratories for not giving results of RT-PCR tests to the public within the prescribed time limit.
The Bench issued the direction as the norms provide imposition of penalty on private laboratories for delay in providing test results to the public.
