Karnataka: RT-PCR test mandatory for returnees from South Africa, Brazil

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 Institure 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.