Former minister wants mandatory test for all returnees

Mangaluru: Calling it a serious lapse on the part of government, former health minister U T Khader said the new protocol issued by the Karnataka government on May 31 with regard to inter-state travellers to the state during the Unlock Phase I will lead to a disaster. Khader said the government has utterly failed to control the spread of Covid-19 in the state.
“Making RT-PCR test mandatory only for symptomatic travellers and reducing the institutional quarantine period to seven days is an illogical decision. All inter-state travellers coming from high risk states should be made to undergo test compulsorily. The Congress Task Force will meet ministers to amend the guidelines,” Mangaluru MLA Khader said.
Citing an example of a person testing positive after completing seven days of institutional quarantine in Mangaluru, Khader said all inter-state and international travellers entering the state should mandatorily undergo 14 days’ quarantine and test for Covid-19. “Government must consider the issue very seriously. In fact, the number of Covid-19 tests should be doubled during the unlock phase when people move in public places without much restrictions,” Khader said.
He questioned the logic of enforcing lockdown when the disease was in its initial phase of spreading and unlocking it when it is widespread. “What was the intention of the government to announce lockdown and damage the entire economy? People have cooperated with the government in the past two months during the lockdown. Initially, inter-state travellers were made to undergo 28 days of quarantine and later it was reduced to 14 days. Now, it seems that the state government is sending the virus to people’s doorsteps by relaxing the rules again,” he said.
“Let state government clarify what makes them desist from making tests mandatory for travellers from outside. Let government open more RT-PCR laboratories and increase the capacity of existing facilities,” Khader demanded.