Karnataka seals border with Maha

State singled out as among the 99 new cases, 56 recently came from Mumbai

The Karnataka government on Monday sealed its borders with Maharashtra and banned people from entering the state till May 31, even as the state recorded the biggest single day spike in Covid-19 cases with 99 testing positive. The total now stands at 1246.

Maharashtra was singled out because among the 99 new cases, 56 had recently come from Mumbai. On Sunday, too, 40 among those who tested positive had recent travel history to Mumbai. The trend of high COVID-19 patients with travel histories to Mumbai was reported from Friday itself, triggering alarm bells in the administration.

What is also of worry for the Yediyurappa government is that 12 Covid patients are in the ICU battling for life.

The state has also banned entry of people from Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Only those who have already procured travel passes via the Seva Sindhu app will be allowed into the state.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa made the announcement along with the new guidelines on the relaxations that the state government was allowing with regards to lockdown 4.0.

Around 60 cases in the state can also be traced back to patients with travel history to Gujarat. A majority of cases in Kolar district, which until recently had zero cases, have travel histories to Tamil Nadu.

Though no such spike in cases has been seen with travel histories to Kerala, the state government put Kerala too on the list as the Pinarayi Vijayan government reported a huge spike in recent times with 29 new cases on Monday. Karnataka has also ordered that no interstate trains, except Shramik trains and special trains to and from Delhi as announced by the Railways, will operate until May 31.

Bengaluru Urban too saw more Covid cases pouring in (18), followed by sugarcane belt of Mandya 17. All the patients in Mandya had travel histories to Maharashtra.