In an urge of rising Covid cases in the country and Bengauru in particular, the state government on Saturday, April 30, instructed officials to initiate screening, surveillance measures and tele-monitoring for those arriving from Japan and Thailand, including RT-PCR tests for symptomatic cases at the airport testing laboratory.
A circular as per the recommendations of the State COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) said, “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. Of the 8 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.”
“The arrivals from the above-mentioned countries should undergo thermal screening on arrival at Bengaluru International Airport and Mangaluru International Airport. Testing through RT-PCR should be done for the symptomatic at the airport testing laboratory. And for those found positive, the samples shall be sent for genome sequencing. Further treatment and management of Covid patient are to be followed as per the government protocol,” stated the circular.
The circular also stated that at the district and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) level, telemonitoring of the above mentioned international passengers (Japan and Thailand) should be done at their respective districts for fourteen days through a 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 government protocol by the district teams and the positive samples shall be sent for genome sequencing.
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