Bengaluru’s civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has identified a new cluster in the northern part of the city in Mathikere. As many as 16 staff members of a popular pub — 1522, The Pub — located near New BEL Road in Mathikere have tested positive for coronavirus.
N Chidananada, Joint Commissioner, BBMP West Zone told Deccan Herald that random testing was being carried out of employees working in hotels, restaurants and pubs in Bengaluru and it was found that 16 staff members out of the total 87 who underwent tests at the restaurant have COVID-19.
BBMP commissioner Manjunath Prasad confirmed the cases and told TNM, “The eatery has nearly 87 staff members, of which 16 have COVID-19. The staffers are all asymptomatic and hence are self-isolating.” The pub has been closed after the COVID-19 cases were reported.
Chidananda further said that 87 employees at the restaurant were tested as a part of their routine activities. The West zone, so far, has reported two clusters. The joint commissioner clarified that 78% of cases found in the West Zone were in home isolation with 21% being hospitalised.
Bengaluru has reported over 2,000 cases over the past few days, with 2,004 new cases being reported on Sunday, March 28. While the state government has said there will not be a lockdown, the government has asked people to take precautionary measures like wearing masks, sanitizing and maintaining physical distancing. The government has also asked citizens to avoid public gatherings and large congregations.
Bengaluru had reported three new clusters last week which took the total number of active clusters in the city to 14. On March 19, two new clusters were identified as per the BBMP protocols. Out of the two clusters, one in the west zone at Vyalikaval had a total of five cases and the other was in Spandix apartment in the east zone in the city, which had seven cases. One more COVID-19 containment zone was identified in Shobha Apartment on March 20 in the Dasarahalli zone of BBMP.