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Bengaluru, Jul 3: The Karnataka government is allowing select asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic Covid-19 patients to recuperate at home as part of home isolation guidelines, an official said on Friday.

"Only those who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic shall be allowed to be in isolation at home," said a health official, highlighting that such patients should be properly oriented on home isolation.

However, before home isolation, a health team will visit the patient's house and assess its suitability for executing home isolation.

Similarly, the patient should be provided with a tele-consultation link for initial triage, daily follow up and during the entire home isolation time.

For a daily update, the patient isolated at home should give a report on his health status to the physician or health authorities.

"The home isolation shall be with the knowledge of the family members, neighbours, treating physician and local health authorities," said the official.

Though home isolation is allowed, it is not a blanket permission for all asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases in Karnataka to avail.

"Such cases should have the requisite facility at their residence for self-isolation and also for quarantining the family contacts. A care giver should be available to provide care on 24x7 basis," said the official.

Likewise, the caregiver should also have a regular communication link between him and the hospital during the home isolation.

No patient above 50 years will be allowed to avail home isolation.

"If the patient has the following comorbidities: hypertension, diabetes, obesity, thyroid disease, they shall be well managed and under good clinical control as assessed by medical officer," he said.

However, patients with comorbidities such as kidney diseases, dialysis, heart diseases, stroke, tuberculosis, cancer and HIV cannot avail home isolation.

Likewise, immunity compromised patients and those on steroids also cannot be on home isolation.

Though pregnant women are not allowed to avail this facility, lactating women are allowed after due instruction and assessment.

The Health Department has also issued several other guidelines and protocols for a patient choosing home isolation.

Bengaluru, May 24: In an effort to protect passengers and staff from the risk of COVID-19 transmission, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has introduced a parking-to-boarding contactless journey at the airport.

With a greater emphasis on minimum touch and minimum exposure between passengers and airport personnel, BIAL aims to minimise all physical contact at the airport. The technology will continue to enable a seamless airport journey, with greater emphasis on health and safety.

"As the gateway to a new India, BLR Airport has a key role to play in helping passengers through this global health crisis by reassuring them that their safety is our top priority. We have introduced innovative contactless procedures to minimise exposure at the airport," said Hari Marar, MD and CEO, BIAL.

"These enhancements demonstrate our continued commitment to keep our passengers safe in this environment. We believe our new measures will boost confidence among passengers," continued Marar.

"BLR Airport is all geared up to welcome our passengers back and - working with various government departments - we're committed to offering them a safe experience by implementing the best-in-class standards, procedures and practices," Marar added.

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that domestic flight operations will resume from May 25 noting that all airlines and airports were ready but it is not viable to keep the middle seat vacant as it will lead to hike in the ticket price and prescribed social distancing norms would still not be met. 

 Bengaluru, Jan 12: Two pilgrims from Bengaluru, who were siblings, drowned in sea off Auro Beach in Puducherry today.

The deceased have been identified as V Gauthman, 22, and his brother Vivek, 20.

Gauthman and Vivek were among a group of around 150 devotees from Bengaluru to the Adhiparasakhi temple at Melmaruvathur in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu. They started their journey from Bengaluru in three buses on Friday.

After offering special puja at Adhiparasakthi temple and worshipping at a few other temples, they reached Auro Beach on Sunday afternoon. 

While they were having lunch on the beach, Gauthman entered the sea. He was caught in a huge wave.

Vivek, who tried to rescue his brother, too was caught in the wave.

Other pilgrims and fishermen began to search for them in fishing boats.

After an hour, their bodies were washed ashore, around two km from the spot.

The Auroville police retrieved the bodies and sent them for postmortem.