Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra said that students from high risk state like Kerala and Maharashtra should get COVID-19 negative certificates mandatorily while returning to hostels/paying guest accommodations after spending Christmas and year-end holidays in their native places and undergo RT-PCR tests on arrival. Institutions should subject these students to RT-PCR test and quarantine them for a week. Students may be allowed to attend classes if they test negative after another RT-PCR test. The DC informed that there were fluctuations in new COVID-19 cases in the last few days because of some clusters. The district has 164 active cases: 35 in hospitals and 129 under home isolation.