CM to railways: Make RT-PCR mandatory

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has written to railway authorities to ask passengers to compulsorily carry the RTPCR negative report which is not older than 72 hours ,while travelling in trains headed towards Karnataka.

Speaking to the media after chairing a meeting with health department officials here on Friday, Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K. Sudhakar said this needs to be done at the earliest since the number of Corona and Omicron positive cases have been on the rise in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Passengers from these states would spread it among people of Karnataka. Most passengers arriving from the above states are not co-operating with officials and are not wiling to undergo the RT-PCR test.

In view of this, the CM has requested the Ministry of Railways to make the RT-PCR negative report mandatory for passengers from those states coming to Karnataka.

The minister also said the number of Corona positive cases has gone up by nearly 70 per cent between December 21, 2021 and Jan 1, 2022 across the globe. The new variant, Omicron, spread faster than the delta variant. The World Health Organization has said the new variant spreads fast and must not be taken lightly.

Dr.Sudhakar also said health department officials have been asked to work in better coordination during the ongoing third wave. There should not be any confusion among various departments and it must not impact citizens, he added.