Mangaluru, Feb 9: The Karnataka government has announced that students coming from Kerala to Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Mysuru, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts must carry a negative COVID-19 test certificate that is not older than 72 hours.
This applies to students living in Hostels in Karnataka as well, the Health Department has specified.
Day-scholars from Kerala, who come for studies will be tested once in a fortnight, the health department stated. The state government also encouraged educational institutes to conduct online classes and urged students to avoid travelling to their native places frequently.
The Health department cited a high positivity rate in RT-PCR tests done in four Nursing Institutes and 2 Engineering Institutes in Mangaluru since December 25. The test positivity rate was 6.8 percent among 2,806 cases.
The Dakshina Kannada district administration held a meeting on Monday and decided to increase surveillance at the border. The Talapady border is just 22 Km South of Mangaluru city and many residents living near the border study in institutes in and around Mangaluru.
Last week, the authorities were forced to seize a college after 49 students from Kerala were found COVID-19 positive.
The Aaliyah Institute of Nursing at Ullal was sealed by the City Municipality after the cases emerged. Initially six students tested positive and when all the students were subjected to the test, 43 more COVID-19 cases emerged.
The samples were sent to NIMHANS, Bengaluru, for genome sequencing to determine if they were infected by a new variant of the novel coronavirus.
During the lockdown last year, Karnataka decided to close the border with Kerala even for patients in emergency cases. The dispute was resolved following the intervention of the Supreme Court.
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