Karnataka new Covid-19 guidelines: RT-PCR test mandatory for passengers arriving from South Africa, Brazil

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government on Tuesday made it mandatory for passengers arriving from South Africa and Brazil to the state to undergo RT-PCR tests and 14 days quarantine in view of two more variants of COVID-19 being identified in these countries. Samples of those in institutional quarantine would be sent to National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences here for genome sequencing, a health department release said.

The RT-PCR test should be done by passengers on arrival at Bengaluru Airport, irrespective of whether they had a negative certificate for the test before boarding the flights.

After 14 days of quarantine, the patient would be discharged, subject to two samples tested through RT-PCR, taken 24 hours apart, turning negative, it said. The government had earlier made it mandatory for all passengers coming from the U.K., where a new strain of the virus was detected, to get the RT-PCR test done on arrival.


The release said all international passengers arriving in Karnataka, irrespective of their COVID vaccination status, should follow the government guidelines on producing the RT- PCR negative certificate.