Mangaluru : Karnataka has made negative RT-PCR certificate mandatory for all arrivals from the two States. The certificate should not be older than 72 hours irrespective of vaccination status.

Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Jawaid Akhtar issued a circular in this regard on July 31.

“The negative certificate is mandatory for all the passengers coming to Karnataka by flight, bus, train and personal transport. This is applicable for all flights originating in Kerala and Maharashtra. Airlines should issue boarding passes only to passengers carrying RT-PCR negative certificates not older than 72 hours,” states the circular.

While railway authorities will be responsible for ensuring that all passengers travelling by trains carry negative RT-PCR certificates, bus conductors will enforce this norm by all those travelling by bus, according to the circular.

The government has directed all Deputy Commissioners of the districts bordering Kerala (Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Mysuru) and Maharashtra (Belagavi , Vijayapura, Kalaburagi and Bidar) to establish check posts and make arrangements to deploy necessary staff to ensure that all vehicles (driver, passengers, helper, cleaner) entering Kamataka are checked for compliance with the above requirement.

“It is mandatory for all students and people visiting Karnataka daily for education, business and other reasons to undergo RT-PCR test once in 15 days and possess a negative test report,” the circular states.

This requirement is exempted for constitutional functionaries and healthcare professionals, and children below the age of two years.

In dire emergency situations (death in the family, medical treatment), the passengers’ swab should be collected on arrival in Karnataka with necessary details like phone number, address, duly verifying from their identity cards. On receipt of the RT-PCR test report, further action should be taken as per the State’s protocol, according to the circular.