The governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have intensified the Covid curbs at the border for travellers from Kerala. The stringent measures at border points were introduced in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in Kerala.
It is mandatory for people entering from Kerala to Tamil Nadu to either produce fully vaccinated certificate or RT-PCR negative report taken within 72 hours. But for people entering from Kerala to Karnataka, RT-PCR negative report taken within 72 hours is mandatory, even if they are fully vaccinated. Winding queues are visible at border checkpoints as both states tighten security measures. For two days consecutively, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 crossed 20,000 mark in the state. Nearly one in every two new Covid-19 infections recorded in India over the past week have come from Kerala, defying the national trend of falling infections since the decline of the country’s brutal second wave of infections. The coastal state’s test positivity rate (TPR) also remained high at 12.14%, while the national average is 2.34%. According to the data released by the state health ministry, active cases also surged to 167,379, accounting for more than one-third of the active cases of the country.
Amid the surge, the Tamil Nadu government on Sunday announced a special surveillance measure, mandating a negative RT-PCR certificate for people arriving to the state from Kerala from August 5. Meanwhile, reports suggest the neighbouring states have already beefed up measures in borders.
