State bans international arrivals at KIA indefinitely

The government ended all international flights in an attempt to prevent the influx of additional Covid-19 cases into Karnataka from Sunday morning.

In a 2.30 pm tweet on Sunday, Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar said that all international flights had been suspended.

A Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) spokesperson specified that domestic flights were unaffected. The government, meantime, announced its intention to screen all domestic air passengers for Covid-19.

In all 1,406 people had landed at the KIA in 11 flights on Saturday - in what were the last arrivals of international flights for an indefinite period, as state health officials clamp down on the state’s borders.

Alarm bells went off when Health Minister B Sriramulu tweeted on Sunday noon that six positive Covid-19 cases had been discovered among one of the flights repatriating 195 “Kannadigas” to Bengaluru after they had become stranded at
Dubai.

“195 Kannadigas who were in Dubai have been brought to Bengaluru International Airport. Since six of them have symptoms of Covid-19, they have been admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases’ isolation ward,” the minister
tweeted.

However, according to sources, the six were only suspected cases and had been isolated at the Akash Institute for Medical Science. According to government figures, there were 12 new admissions of suspected Covid-19 cases at various designated hospitals in Bengaluru (excluding the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Chest Diseases).

Dr Kailash N, the Medical Superintendent of Akash Institute said that the Institute had made preparations to accommodate as many as 250 passengers, based on the instructions from the government.

Going by data supplied to DH, Akash has screened a total of 4,028 people since its inception as a primary screening facility last week.

During this screening, 34 Category A (or positive Covid-19) cases were identified, 273 were classified as Category B cases, while 3,721 were classified at category C and discharged.