Apartment complexes drive Covid-19 surge in Bengaluru

Bengaluru is seeing more Covid cases in large apartment complexes in the current virus surge compared with the outbreak last year, when cases were concentrated in slums and crowded localities.

According to the BBMP, East, West, South, Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli zones have been reporting more than 100 cases every day.

Giving details of the cases, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad said, “Most of the fresh cases are found in apartment complexes where people often hold events, parties in common areas. Hence we have proposed to the state government to close down common areas in all apartment complexes.”

Worryingly, Prasad said that 90% of the cases in Bengaluru are asymptomatic.

Read: Maharani students take exam in PPE, test negative hours later

“In some cases, people are not isolating themselves despite the onset of symptoms,” he said. “This has caused the virus to spread in most of the large housing societies. As of now, we have identified 12 clusters in the city, most of which are related to apartment complexes.”

Civic body officials have also identified another trend among the fresh Covid cases. “We are seeing that all members of the infected person’s family are also testing positive. Similarly, about 3% of the primary contacts of a patient are turning positive.”

Determined to scale up contact tracing, the BBMP is deploying a team of 15 people for every case to identify the primary and secondary contacts. The team comprises teachers, revenue and municipal officials.

Efforts are on to increase the pace of vaccination as well.

Read: Bengaluru reports over 1,000 Covid-19 cases for the first time this year

“We are scheduling vaccination of about 80,000 people. But only 50% of them are turning up. Hence we have directed vaccination centres to allow a walk-in system as well. The beneficiaries have to come with a copy of their Aadhaar card and identity card.”

As many as 20 children below 10 years have reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.

“We have been appealing to people not to take children below the age of 10 and senior citizens above the age of 65 out for malls, crowded areas. The rule is still applicable and we request all such people to stay indoors as far as possible,” Prasad said.