Covid scare: 8 foreigners found infected, fresh guidelines in Karnataka; key developments

As Covid continues to wreak havoc in China, India has stepped up its preparedness to fight any possible spike in infection. Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya today said that random Covid testing has started at various airports across the country in the wake of rising cases globally. Last week, the Centre issued new travel guidelines for international arrival and made RT-PCR test mandatory for passengers coming from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Thailand. In the past 24 hours, India recorded 196 new Covid infections, pushing the active cases marginally to 3,428.

Here are the latest updates

- Today, four foreigners tested positive for Covid at Bihar's Gaya airport. Gaya Civil Surgeon Ranjan Kumar Singh said four foreigners, three from Myanmar and one from Bangkok, have tested positive for Covid at Gaya airport. They are asymptomatic and have been placed under isolation.

- Four people from Myanmar have tested positive at Delhi airport. The genome sequencing of samples is being done, official sources told the news agency ANI.
 
- Karnataka today made masks mandatory inside movie theatres, schools, and colleges. Masks will also be mandatory to celebrate the New Year in pubs, restaurants and bars. The state government said New Year celebrations to end before 1 am.

- A mock drill will be held on Tuesday across a number of health facilities in several states to ensure readiness to deal with any eventuality.

- The drill will focus on human resource capacity in terms of healthcare professionals trained in Covid management, ventilatory management protocol for severe cases, healthcare workers trained in the operation of PSA plants, and availability of Advanced and Basic Life Support (ALS/BLS) ambulances, and testing equipment.

- On Sunday, a 40-year-old man, who returned from China two days ago, tested positive for Covid. He has been isolated at home and his samples will be sent to Lucknow for genome sequencing, Agra Chief Medical Officer Arun Srivastava said on Sunday.