Travellers from outside Karnataka will have to carry a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test report to enter capital city Bengaluru from April 1, state minister K Sudhakar said in a statement on Thursday.

The announcement came as Bengaluru reported 1,400 new coronavirus cases – the highest count recorded in 24 hours after four months.

“There are travel restrictions in a way, whoever comes to Bengaluru from other states will have to bring in RT-PCR negative certificates otherwise we will test them here,” Sudhakar said, according to Bangalore Mirror.

The state health minister, who held a meeting to review the measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic in the city, said it was decided that those infected and residing in the civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s limits will be stamped on the hand.

“As of now, restriction is for Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab and Chandigarh. But now going forward, it is applicable to all states,” he was quoted as saying by his office in a release.

For functions indoors, there will be a limit of 200 people and 500 for events in open spaces, the minister said in a statement. “Every ward is being provided with one ambulance,” Sudhakar said. “It can also be increased depending on the number of cases. Protocols will be implemented for care and treatment of infected persons. Certain places which have high footfall and dense public places will be sanitised to control the spread.”

The state health minister also said that information on the availability of beds and intensive care units will be made available online.

On the detection of mutant coronavirus variants, Sudhakar urged people to remain cautious for the next two months. “Mutant version is found in 700 cases so far [in the country],” he said. “As per experts, it spreads faster than the original one. We are tracing out 20 contacts for each infected person.”

He also spoke about the upcoming elections and said they were not “insulated from spreading infection”. “It is important to restrict gatherings,” he said. “I will speak to election commission officials in this regard.”

Bye-polls to the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat and Basavakalyan and Maski Assembly seats will be held on April 17. The results will be declared on May 2.