In a relief to Bengalureans and officials, no new COVID-19 clusters have been identified in the city after multiple cases were reported from the Bellandur locality a few days ago. Officials from various zones in the city confirmed this to TNM.
Serious concerns arose after a few clusters were identified within the city in hostels and apartment complexes. Since then, the BBMP has taken several more precautions to prevent an increase in coronavirus infections again.
However, on Wednesday officials identified COVID-19 cases in two blocks of a 16-block apartment complex in Yelahanka New Town. Three cases have been identified in each of the two blocks.
Speaking to TNM, a health official said, “Since the cases were identified, we have tested each and every person in those two blocks. The results are pending and if we find that more than five people are infected in one block, we will declare it a containment zone and further protocols will be followed.” She further added, “We don't want to take risks so we have planned to test the entire complex and cover all the 16 blocks.”
A BBMP health official who works in the COVID-19 war room told TNM that apartments and hostels have been their main concern because they house a large number of people in a small area. "They have common areas which make it easy for infections to spread. We had already provided detailed guidelines on how to be safe in apartments but we observed that it was not being strictly followed by certain apartment managements. Several have opened their common areas but aren't sanitising those areas regularly. As an increased precautionary measure, we have set up several mobile testing teams that go to places where people show symptoms and conduct tests in every house including floors above and below the house which has a suspected patient," he said.
He also said, “Another issue we see in apartment complexes is that generally people are from an elite section who can afford and have travelled abroad. These people could be carrying the virus. Many times even the apartment management is not aware about their travel histories. This must be tracked by the apartment managements and residents.”
The BBMP and the Karnataka government have been striving to prevent an increase in infections. In order to do so, several measures have been implemented, especially for those who come from states of Kerala and Maharashtra. All travellers from these states are required to carry a negative RT-PCR test certificate not older than 72 hours to come into the state.