51 passengers travelling to Mangaluru from Maha, Kerala without negative RT-PCR report sent to quarantine centre

51 passengers from Maharashtra and Kerala who came to Karnataka's Mangaluru by trains without RT-PCR negative certificates were sent to a temporary quarantine centre on Monday.

"51 passengers from Maharashtra and Kerala who came to Mangaluru by trains without RT-PCR negative certificates have been taken to a temporary quarantine centre. Their swabs have been taken and results are awaited," Hariram Shankar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Mangaluru said.

"As it is night-time, women have been allowed to proceed to their homes & asked to quarantine themselves till COVID test results come. Men have been asked to wait till their results come. Those who test positive will be moved to COVID care centres," he added.

Further, the DCP said that the procedure will be followed at all railway stations in the coming days.

Tamil Nadu on Sunday also made a negative RT-PCR report mandatory for those coming from Kerala from August 5 onwards.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai also stated that resort - homestay bookings have to be done only after the mandatory procurement of negative RT-PCR reports not older than 72 hours. "Resorts - homestay bookings have to be done only after the mandatory procurement of negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours," he said.

While reviewing COVID status of 8 districts on July 31, Bommai said, "Last time, the second wave came from Kerala and Maharashtra. Now again the cases are becoming more in Kerala in the last few days. I have instructed to DCs to take care of it. And the testing unit and the medical infrastructure have to be improved in these districts."

The Karnataka government has extended the Covid guidelines till August 16.

Kerela recorded 13,984 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and 118 deaths. According to the state health bulletin, Kerala has 1,65,322 active cases. While Maharashtra has 82,350 active cases, as per the Union Health Ministry.

( With inputs from ANI )