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Updated January 2023
After removing testing and quarantine procedures for travelling passengers, Karnataka became the first state in the country to re-introduce quarantine for international passengers from certain countries.
Read on to learn more about the latest quarantine rules and COVID-19 testing guidelines in Karnataka.
Karnataka quarantine rules
International passengers
The Karnataka state government has now made home quarantine mandatory for 7 days for passengers arriving at the Bengaluru airport from six countries:
- China
- Thailand
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- South Korea
- Singapore
The Centre has already announced that RT-PCR tests is mandatory for international passengers arriving from these countries.
As per Karnataka’s revised guidelines, passengers arriving from these countries will have to provide COVID negative report before they are allowed to leave airport premises. Further, as per the guidelines, if any of the international passengers from the said countries are found symptomatic, they shall be isolated immediately and will be transferred to the designated medical facility. Meanwhile, their samples should be collected and submitted for RT-PCR testing and genome sequencing.
However, asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to leave the airport but will be advised to self-monitor their health for COVID symptoms and strictly follow COVID-appropriate behaviour, like wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing, practising hand hygiene, and remaining under home quarantine for the next seven days.
A few hotels in Karnataka are providing paid institutional quarantine facilities for travellers. Readers are advised to check with the hotel authority regarding the facilities offered and their current availability for quarantine travellers.
Domestic passengers
Mandatory 7-day institutional quarantine has been put in place for all students arriving from Kerala State in pursuance of their studies in any discipline but not restricted to nursing, medical, engineering, paramedical, etc.
It is compulsory for passengers arriving from Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala to carry a COVID-negative report from an ICMR-approved lab not earlier than 72 hours of arrival into the state of Karnataka. This is a requirement by the Govt. of Karnataka.
The following passenger categories are exempted from above mentioned requirement
- Constitutional functionaries and healthcare professionals
- Children below the age of 2 years
- For passengers travelling under emergency situations such as death in family, medical treatment etc., In such situations passengers swab will be taken on arrival, and further action shall be decided basis the test result
COVID-19 testing facilities in Karnataka
As sanctioned by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), coronavirus tests in Karnataka are of the following types: Real-time RT PCR tests, rapid antigen tests, TrueNat tests and CBNAAT tests.
Along with government medical centres, numerous private labs have been set up following ICMR guidelines to meet the COVID-19 testing demands in Karnataka. You can find a list of government and private labs in Karnataka where you can get a COVID test report here. You can read more about getting tested in Bangalore here.
