Coronavirus: Karnataka may restrict entry of people from high-risk states

The Karnataka government on Sunday made provisions for the Health and Family Welfare Department to prohibit the entry of people from high-risk states, as it issued guidelines for the three-phased lifting of lockdown based on the directions by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

"Based on reasons of public health and assessment of prevalence of Covid-19 in various states, separate orders will be issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department regarding inter-state movement of persons to Karnataka," the state guidelines read.

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Karnataka had expressed reservations about the movement of people from states with high caseload such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and barred their entry during the fourth phase of lockdown. After domestic air services resumed, the state had requested the Centre to reduce the number of flights from five states, including the above three and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Several ministers were also in favour of curbs on entry of people from some states at the recent Cabinet meeting.

Karnataka will follow the Centre's directions on opening religious places of worship, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services — all of which will resume on June 8. Earlier, the state was keen on opening hotels and religious places from June 1, and several malls had already made preparations in this reagard.

Meanwhile, hotels are hopeful that the state will relax rules before June. B Chandrashekar Hebbar, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Hotels and Restaurants Association, said the government could ease norms for them to resume businesses early.