Bengaluru has 162 containment zones, sees slow but steady rise in Covid cases

Bengaluru on a daily basis is reporting more Covid-19 cases than Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, on average. But the rise in daily cases has not yet been alarming though steady, data revealed.

The resurgence of coronavirus cases in the southern states, which has become of cause for concern since the last week of July, is slow but steady in Bengaluru, the data of Bruhat Bengaluru Maganagara Palike has revealed. On Saturday, Bengaluru reported 357 fresh Covid-19 infections, which was a slight decrease from Friday's number of 441 new infections. Bengaluru's daily rise in Covid-19 infection remains higher than that of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Bengaluru's Mahadevpura has the highest number of micro-containment zones, followed by the east zone. (PTI)

According to the latest Covid bulletin, there are 162 micro-containment zones in the city including over 100 apartments and individual homes being sealed. The number is on the higher side as the civic body has tweaked the rules for containment so that maximum alertness can be exercised in a short period of time. According to the earlier regulations, a micro-containment zone was declared when over 10 Covid-19 cases were reported in an area. Now the number has been reduced to 3.

Bengaluru's Mahadevpura has the highest number of micro-containment zones, followed by the east zone.

Districts bordering Kerala are on high alert as several fresh infection cases have been reported in the state, which apparently came from Kerala. 100 nursing students from two colleges in Karnataka's Hassan, 182 kilometres from Bengaluru, tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday. They were tested after 21 nursing students from Kerala who came to Hassan for an examination were found positive.

Bengaluru civic authorities have already tightened restrictions in the city so that this fresh rise seen in the districts does not affect Bengaluru's graph. The R-value in the city is already above 1 which means every 100 infected people in the city are spreading the virus to more than 100 people.

Bengaluru Police have imposed Section 144 in the city which bars the assembly of four or more people, which will remain in place till August 16. The night curfew which was from 10pm to 5am has also been extended and it will now start at 9pm. The night curfew timing is for the entire state while some districts will also observe weekend lockdown.