Bengaluru, May 23 (IANS): Domestic passengers flying in from six coronavirus-hit states across the country to Karnataka from Monday would be quarantined for a week in institutional centres as well, an official said on Saturday.
"Passengers flying in from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh to Bengaluru from May 25 will have to go through 7-day institutional quarantine followed by 7-day home quarantine," said the health official in a statement here.
Fliers or returnees from other low-prevalence states, however, will be sent in 14-day home quarantine.
"Institutional quarantine is, however, not applicable to pregnant women, children below 10, people above 80 and terminally-ill patients, although their swabs will be taken on arrival for tests," added the statement.
As part of the easing of extended lockdown norms, the Civil Aviation Ministry has permitted domestic airlines to operate one third of their service capacity to cities and metros across the country from May 25 in compliance with the Home Ministry guidelines.
"Though only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to fly from any city or metro, 7-day institutional quarantine is mandatory from these six states, which have high prevalence of coronavirus, and 14-day home quarantine for those flying in from other states," asserted the official.
All asymptomatic overseas returnees in Air India flights to Bengaluru and Mangaluru and citizens returning from other states by special trains to this tech city are quarantined in hotels or hostels for 14 days before they are allowed to go home.
All incoming passengers should also have an e-pass from Seva Sindhu portal of the state government.
"A civil aviation official will upload the information about the passengers (name, mobile number, PNR#, flight number and flight origin date) on the portal at least 2 hours before departure," reiterated the official.
Passengers can also apply for the e-pass directly on the portal from 12 noon on Sunday along with mobile number, address in Karnataka and PNR# before reaching the airport and show the acknowledgement SMS at the check-in counter of the airline he/she is flying to Bengaluru.
"On validation with the uploaded information, the application will be auto-approved and the e-pass sent to the passenger's mobile phone even before his/her arrival," said the statement.
On landing at the city airport, the e-pass is verified for health check-in and the passenger is put in quarantine as per the norms.
Businessmen coming for urgent work like participating in auction of perishable agricultural commodities are exempted from the quarantine if they carry the negative test report, which is two days older from the travel date and from an ICMR-approved laboratory.
In case business travellers don't have such test report, they will have to undergo Covid-19 test and stay in paid institutional quarantine (hotels identified by the state government) till the test result is released.
"After negative test result, the business traveller will be allowed to finish their engagements and fly back. In case their stay is beyond 5 days, they will have to go to fever clinic for check-up for an auto extension of another 5 days if found asymptomatic," said the statement.
Doctors, nurses, paramedics, sanitation personnel and ambulance staff will have to be in 14-day home quarantine.