Bengaluru
As the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases rise in the city, a meeting of senior officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP, the city’s civic body) on Friday discussed the possibility of taking up Covid-19 testing in crowded places like markets, malls, schools, colleges and marriage halls.
“Testing should be organised at crowded and market places,” according to a statement by the civic body, detailing the discussions taken up in a meeting held by the BBMP commissioner and other senior officials over the rising Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru.
“Dr Giridhar Babu (co-chairman of BBMP’s Covid-19 task force) mentioned it would be helpful if BBMP issues orders regarding testing at malls, RWAs, schools/colleges, marriage halls etc,” the statement read.
Officials deliberated that businesses in the city were functioning in full capacity and that there were a higher number of marriages and religious events taking place, making it more important to take effective measures to contain the spread of the virus.
The BBMP also acknowledged that there were some lapses in contact tracing and data collection, which it needed to fix.
“Special Commissioner (Health, BBMP) mentioned that over the past 10 days our contact tracing has dropped and directed all teams to increase the numbers to at least 15 contacts per positive case,” according to the BBMP statement.
{{/usCountry}}“Special Commissioner (Health, BBMP) mentioned that over the past 10 days our contact tracing has dropped and directed all teams to increase the numbers to at least 15 contacts per positive case,” according to the BBMP statement.
{{/usCountry}}“It is noted that incomplete details are collected by testing teams, even though address, pin code and mobile number are mandatory, it is not followed diligently,” it added.
Bengaluru has seen a sharp spike in cases in recent times and accounted 526 of the total 833 positives confirmed on Thursday. Five more people succumbed to Covid- 19, taking the death toll to 12,386 across Karnataka, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department.
The meeting comes at a time when Bengaluru has witnessed a surge in cases over the last few days and is among the top 10 most impacted districts in the country, with 6,008 active cases out of the total 8,114 across the state, sparking fears of a possible second wave of infections.
The BBMP on Friday identified another Covid-19 cluster in the Government Medical and Engineering College, where seven people tested positive out of the 158 who were screened for the virus.
“All seven positive cases are traced, counselled and shifted to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, Jayanagar,” the BBMP said. The civic body added that the index patient was moved to Victoria hospital on March 8. The BBMP has instructed others in the hostel to follow safety protocols and alert authorities if they develop any symptoms and also that there would be a mandatory repeat testing in seven days.
Karnataka is aiming to increase its daily vaccination count to contain the problem. Chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday was vaccinated along with K.Sudhakar, the state’s health minister.
A total of 1,270,782 persons have been vaccinated across Karnataka, according to government data.