Bengaluru, Sep 1 (IANS): The death toll during the second Covid wave crossed the 16,000 mark in the Karnataka capital.

As per the bulletin released on Wednesday by the state Health and Family Welfare Department, 16,001 deaths were reported due to Covid so far in Bengaluru, while the total Covid deaths in the state number 37,339 so far, with 21 more deaths in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the state has recorded 1,159 new Covid cases against 1,112 recoveries.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru reported 359 Covid positive cases and seven deaths in the last 24 hours, taking its tally to 7,558, against 232 recoveries in the same period. As many as 18 children aged between 0 to 9 years and 36 aged between 10 to 19 years were among the new cases.

The city's micro-containment zones number 103 while the authorities have deactivated 913.

The Karnataka government has issued a revised circular, making mandatory RT-PCR tests for international arrivals from selected countries, irrespective of negative test reports brought from the boarding point.

In view of the new mutations in SARS-Cov-2 being reported and rising incidents of Variants of Concern (VOC) and Variants of Interest (VOI), passengers arriving from the UK, Europe, Middle East, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe must undergo the RT-PCR tests.

The passengers arriving from Brazil and South Africa, after providing the samples at airports of the state, shall wait for the results in the airport, and only leave after testing negative. Passengers from other countries listed above are asked to provide the sample and leave the airport.

Similarly, the government has issued a separate circular mentioning Covid protocols for students and employees from Kerala in view of the prevailing Covid-19 situation there.

"It is observed that students and employees arriving into Karnataka from Kerala, though bringing negative RT-PCR reports, are testing positive for Covid-19 during the repeat test. Such numbers are considerably high in Dakshina Kannad and Udupi," the circular said.

All from Kerala are asked to compulsorily bring negative RT-PCR test certificate not older than 72 hours, irrespective of their vaccination status. Principals and administrators of educational institutions are directed to make arrangements for institutional quarantine of students from Kerala.