K’taka, Punjab, Kerala order 14-day quarantine after flight

DOMESTIC TRAVEL Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana are considering similar moves

nNEWDELHI: A Delhi business executive who has an all-important business meeting in Bengaluru can now fly there -- domestic airline services are being restored from Monday -- but faces the prospect of a seven-day quarantine at a state-run institution and another seven days out of it.

To avoid it, travellers will have to provide a Covid-19 negative certificate from an Indian Council of Medical Research approved laboratory, based on a test and dated two days before the date of travel.

Karnataka, Punjab, and Kerala have decided on a 14-day quarantine for passengers, with variations. Karnataka’s is restricted to travellers from areas with a high incidence (such as Delhi); Punjab and Kerala have mandated a 14-day quarantine for anyone entering the state by any means. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana are also considering quarantines.

While the Ministry of Civil Aviation last week allowed states to formulate their own procedures regarding passenger movement, civil minister Hardeep Puri has repeatedly emphasized that those taking domestic flights need not (and should not) be quarantined.“we have clarified that if anyone has the Aarogya Setu app, it’s like a passport and you are safe; why should anybody want any quarantine,” Puri said in a Facebook Live discussion on Saturday. His reference is to the government’s contact-tracing app that has been downloaded by 1.2 million people and which is recommended, although not mandatory, for travel by plane, or train.

But the states do not seem to be listening.

Karnataka said passengers travelling from high incidence zones will have to stay under state-run quarantine for seven days and home quarantine for another seven. Those from other states will be home quarantined for 14 days. However, businesspersons travelling with the negative test certificate will not be quarantined.

An official in the Andhra Pradesh government said that the state is considering following “the Karnataka line”. Punjab announced a 14-day home quarantine for those entering the state.

Madhya Pradesh

6371

Chhattisgarh

214

Maharashtra

47190 2608

Telangana

1813

Goa

55 1 201 3267 42 52

Karnataka

1959 216 608