Not all of Bengaluru city, only two wards sealed off as containment zones

“Seal down in Bengaluru City!” says a news anchor on a prominent Kannada news channel on Friday. Many news reports have claimed that  the entire city of Bengaluru is being sealed off due to the spread of COVID-19, but both the district administration and police have clarified that only two wards are being sealed off, for now.

These two wards - wards 134 (Bapuji Nagar, Bengaluru South) and 135 (Padarayanapura, Bengaluru West) - have been marked as containment clusters and as hotspots. Vehicular movement in these two wards has been completely banned. An area is called a hotpsot normally when there are more than 6 COVID-19 cases there.

Despite this, a news anchor was heard saying in a clip that’s being shared widely- “Barricades are being put up in the small gullies of every locality. You will not be allowed to come out of your house, you will not even be allowed to cross the street. If you want medicines, the medicines will come to you. If you want essential commodities, they will come to you. Only ambulances will be allowed to come in emergencies.”

The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahahnagara Palike) Commissioner Anil Kumar however made it clear that people should not be misled to believe that the entire city was being declared as a containment zone. “No way, please inform everybody that this is not so. This is fake news and speculation by TV channels,” he said.

Anil Kumar said, “These two wards recently reported three cases. This is why these two wards have been sealed off, for the containment of cases. Arrangements will be made to supply essential commodities for the people living there,” Anil Kumar added.

City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao too posted on Twitter asking people not to panic.

Rumors and fake news are floating around of a Seal down in Bangalore City and creating panic. Dearest Citizens, there is nothing like that as of now. Please Stay calm.

— Bhaskar Rao IPS (@deepolice12) April 10, 2020

Till April 10 afternoon, the number of cases in Bengaluru Urban district remain above 70 in total. Among these 70 cases, 17 people have already been discharged from designated hospitals after they recovered, which brings the number of active cases in Bengaluru City to 53.

According to a bulletin prepared by the BBMP on April 9, the 70 odd cases in the city have been mainly concentrated in South and East zones, each having 15 and 14 cases respectively. While Mahadevapura and West zones have 10 cases each, Bomnanahalli and Yelahanka zones have four and two cases each.

What does containment mean?

Other than imposing restrictions on movements in containment zones, the authorities also do mass active surveillance, passive surveillance, contact tracing and mass disinfection.

1. People living in these zones are surveilled on a daily basis for COVID-19 related symptoms.
2.  When any symptoms are reported by the health staff, a medical team is rushed to the spot to verify them. Patients may be asked to be in home isolation or shifted to hospital isolation.
3. Announcements by microphone are done in the entire containment zone and the buffer zone explaining symptoms and preventive measures.
4. Temporary medical camps are set up.
5. All the possible contacts of the 'index case' is identified and  listed. They are asked to be on hospital quarantine and also tested.
6. Designated 108 ambulances are parked in these zones. They are used exclusively for transport of possible COVID-19 patients or suspected cases.
7. All the houses, public places in the containment zone are disinfected through various measures.