AP, TS people rushing to Bengaluru before Covid restrictions kick in

ANANTAPUR: People from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, mostly parents, family members or close relatives of students and Bengaluru-based software engineers are rushing to the garden city of India in large numbers. The development comes in wake of the Karnataka government announcing that any entrant from outside will require a Covid-19 negative report for entry into the city from April 1.

The announcement by Karnataka health minister K. Sudhakar came in the wake of an alarming spike in Coronavirus positive cases in Bengaluru city since the past few days. The belief is that cases in the city have increased owing to travellers from other states.

Sources said the garden city has reported at least 2,523 new positive cases on Thursday alone. Further, the death toll in the Karnataka capital has crossed 12,400 since Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in a major way during March last year.

The increased number of tests carried out by Karnataka Medical and Health authorities have reportedly revealed that majority of positive cases reported related to travellers than locals. Not only has the neighbouring state increased testing, it has introduced quarantine stamping from Friday.

This is what has spread panic among parents, family members and close relatives of those working or studying in Bengaluru. “We have a family function at Bengaluru in April, which had been postponed last year due to lockdown. We are leaving for the city in advance to avoid the proposed restrictions,” a senior retired engineer from AP Transco disclosed. He further revealed that they are planning to stay in that city for at least the next two months.

Another retired bank official from Anantapur left for Mysore on Friday to be with his daughter. Dr. Raghunath, also from Anantapur, however, cancelled his journey to Bengaluru on April 1 for attending a religious function due to restrictions at the borders.

Last year, Karnataka had established a check at Kodikonda on the border to restrict entry of travellers from AP and Telangana.