With the number of COVID-19 cases increasing in Bengaluru, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to deploy more home guards to ensure that residents follow safety protocol including wearing masks. The civic body has written a letter to the Commandant General of Home Guards in Bengaluru, requesting 2,000 more personnel to enforce the rules.
According to The Hindu, BBMP administrator Gaurav Gupta said that this will be in addition to the police personnel and marshals who are already deployed for the purpose. The decision was taken after a review meeting with Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar on Saturday.
“Experts have said that following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and increasing vaccinations is the way forward. We are already focussing on vaccinating vulnerable people, including senior citizens and those with co-morbid conditions as well as people with a history of travel and exposure. We are working towards enhancing the number of vaccinations from 35,000 a day to at least 70,000 a day,” The Hindu quoted Gupta as saying.
Concerns have been raised after a major spike in the number of COVID-19 cases being reported each day since the end of March. From March 31 till April 4, around 3,000 cases have been reported each day. The number of containment zones in Bengaluru stood at 30 on Sunday out of which 12 of them were educational institutions and hostels.
Karnataka on Sunday logged 4,553 new coronavirus cases and 15 deaths, taking the caseload and death toll to 10.15 lakh and 12,625 respectively, the Health Department said. There were 39,092 active cases which included 331 people in the ICU across the state.
Bengaluru urban district accounted for 2,787 new infections and eight deaths.The city has reported 4.47 lakh infections and 4,649 deaths till date, and the active cases stand at 28,098.
There were 1.18 lakh tests done on Sunday taking the total tests done so far to 2.19 crore, the department added. The vaccination numbers also went up as the Union government opened it up for everyone over the age of 45.
With PTI inputs