Over the past few days, Bengaluru is witnessing a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases. Officials said on Monday that an apartment complex was sealed after 10 people contracted the virus.
N Manjunath Prasad, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner said that the cases were found between February 15 and 22. The apartment complex has nine blocks and 1,500 residents. The BBMP chief said that six blocks were made into containment zones based on their findings.
Students from Kerala & Maharashtra have been tested & isolated
Prasad said students coming from Kerala & Maharashtra have been tested & isolated. 18 Covid cases have been reported in Sambhram College of Management Sciences in Yelahanka zone. Travellers from Kerala and Maharashtra must carry a negative RT-PCR test result.
According to BBMP reports, there is no trend that shows a significant spike after the incidents of clusters identified in two apartment complexes and the nursing college.
Officials said that their major concern right now are places like hostels and apartment complexes where there is a large population in a small space. Added to this, apartments have common areas such as gyms, parks and lifts which need to be sanitised regularly to keep safe. One official said that these steps are not being implemented properly everywhere.
According to Prasad, though some students from the neighbouring States had come to the city with a COVID-19 negative report, they tested positive a few days later. "If more than five cases are reported from one location, it is termed as a cluster. The cases in the other three clusters have not increased," he said.
The city's first cluster was reported on February 13 at Manjushree College of Nursing in Kaval Byrasandra, where 40 students tested positive just days after the college reopened. In the second cluster at SNN Raj Lakeview, an apartment complex in Bilekahalli, a total of 108 residents tested positive. Another cluster was reported at SJR Watermark Apartment at Ambalipura, where 27 residents tested positive for COVID-19.
BBMP and the state government have kept a strict vigil to prevent further increase of cases. It is made mandatory for all travellers from Kerala and Maharashtra to carry a negative RT-PCR test result in order to travel to Karnataka.
