Covid-19: In Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada, returnees account for less than 10% cases

MANGALURU: People returning to their homes from abroad have been largely blamed for the spurt in cases in Dakshina Kannada district, but it is an ill-founded assumption. Data which TOI has accessed shows international travellers account for fewer than 10% of the district’s Covid-19 tally of 6,010 cases.
Moreover, the sharp slide in the number of flights being operated under Vande Bharat Mission has resulted in a corresponding decline in the number of people returning home from abroad.
As on July 29, as many as 6,811 passengers returned to Dakshina Kannada, mostly from Gulf countries. But only 478 of them tested positive.
Dakshina Kannada district health officer Dr Ramachandra Bairy said that, on average, until the end of June, nearly 25 passengers arriving by the Vande Bharat flights in Mangaluru tested positive.
“But this number gradually decreased to single digits after June. Also, not even a single traveller has died in the district so far,” Dr Bairy said.
The DHO said that most returnees were taking utmost precautionary measures and were also being subjected to tests prior to their departure.
“The passengers returning home now are much more aware than their counterparts who arrived in the first and second phases in the immediate aftermath of the launch of the Vande Bharat Mission flights,” Dr Bairy added.
Another official in the health department said that not a single passenger on board two flights that landed at the Mangaluru International Airport had tested positive for novel coronavirus. However, he was quick to add that this was not to be read as an indicator for a decline in the number of cases in the countries that the expatriates were returning from. He also added to the ordeal that officials at the airport had to endure each time the flights landed, from dealing with unruly passengers to ensuring the safety of pregnant women, children and elderly citizens.