Karnataka intensifies Covid-19 testing after 3 new clusters in Bengaluru

The new cases were reported in three clusters at Agragami College, Sambharam College and residents of Purva Venezia apartment.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bengaluru's civic body, has identified three more Covid-19 clusters in the city with 33 cases reported on Saturday. The new cases were reported in three clusters at Agragami College, Sambharam College and residents of Purva Venezia apartment, officials said.

File photo: A medical worker takes a swab sample from for a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) Covid-19 coronavirus test. (AFP)

Talking to the media, BBMP commissioner N Manjunath said that those who arrived from neighbouring states of Kerala and Maharashtra resulted in new clusters. "New clusters have emerged. We are surrounded by Kerala and Maharashtra where cases are rising. Most people coming from here are students, they have been tested and isolated,” he said.

Manjunath added that the city administration has intensified tracking and isolating those arriving from these states. The BBMP commissioner said that the emergence of the new clusters is the results of the elaborate testing conducted by the administration in the past few days across educational institutions with a large population of students from Kerala and Maharashtra. He added that around 18,000 nursing students from Kerala are studying across different colleges in the city.

On Saturday, the state reported 523 new cases. Out of these, 329 cases were reported in Bengaluru city.

Karnataka government has imposed travel restrictions on passengers coming from Kerala and Maharashtra. The decision was taken that all passengers from these two states should produce a Covid-19 negative test report before entering the state.

However, on Tuesday, the district administration of Dakshina Kannada district, which neighbours Kerala, temporarily suspended the decision following protests. Officials said that vehicles and passengers will be allowed to enter Karnataka without a test report until further notice. This decision is expected to be reviewed in the coming days.

Three new Covid-19 clusters, all in the Yelahanka zone, with a total of 19 positive cases were detected in Bengaluru on Friday. This takes the overall number of such groups to six over the past two weeks.

In the last three days, as many as 1,156 students were tested at Sambhram Academy of Management Studies, 217 students from Agragami College and 111 residents at Purva Venezia apartment.

According to the data provided by the Union health ministry, six states, including Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, have reported a major surge in Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The cabinet secretary is scheduled to chair a review meeting on Saturday with the state and Union territories reporting the increasing trajectory of the coronavirus disease cases.