The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), amid the new COVID-19 variant Omicron scare, has revealed that, as of now, there is no plan before the civic body to impose restrictions on malls and theatres in Karnataka's city of Bengaluru. 

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Speaking to IANS, BBMP Chief Gaurav Gupta said, "There won’t be any restrictions on malls and theatres in Bengaluru." Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaj Bommai had also clarified that the state government has no plans to impose a lockdown, as of now. 

"There is no question of lockdown, as of now. Normal public life should continue," CM Bommai had said. 

On the other hand, given the rising concern over Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant, BBMP on Wednesday also released a new set of guidelines adopting a risk-based approach. 

As per the revised protocols, travellers from certain countries, based on the evolving epidemiological situation, shall follow the additional measures. International travellers will need to upload a negative RT-PCR report. The test should be conducted within 72 hours before undertaking the journey.

All passengers from the 'at risk' countries will have to undergo home quarantine for seven days, following which a re-test will be conducted on the eighth day. If the results return positive, the samples will be sent for genomic sequencing.

The contacts of such positive cases should be kept under institutional quarantine or strictly-monitored home quarantine. Children under five years of age are exempted from both pre and post-arrival testing. However, if found symptomatic for COVID-19 on arrival or during the home quarantine period, they will undergo testing and be treated as per the protocol.