As festive season nears, Bengaluru hits century of Covid containment zones

Just when Bengaluru is beginning to soak in the festive spirit, the number of micro-containment zones that shrunk to below 90 has once again begun to rise.

As of Sunday, the BBMP had declared 100 micro-containment zones in various parts of the city, suggesting that the infection is gaining inroads as people drop their guards. The number of micro-containment zones that stood at 96 on August 27 crossed the 100 mark and, on September 1, touched 103. It slightly went down on Sunday (September 5) as the city reported 100 micro-containment zones. Civic officials said Mahadevapura and East zones accounted for the lion’s share of the containment areas as they reported 22 micro-containment zones. Dasarahalli has only one.

“While I agree that we’re witnessing formation of a few clusters in recent days, we’ve also been successful in containing these clusters and enforcing containment measures,” BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said.

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He admitted that the number of cases has been increasing in Mahadevapura and East zones on a daily basis. “Our officials are closely monitoring them,” Gupta added.

He attributed the spike in fresh cases and micro-containment zones in Mahadevapura to interstate travel history. Although many IT professionals have been working from home, a few have been travelling back and forth for various reasons, Gupta said. “Besides, there’re construction workers and students with travel history. They could be the reason for the spike,” he said.

BBMP officials, however, played down the rise in containment zones saying the city has been reporting 300 to 350 cases a day for a month now. “The increase in containment zones could be due to slight fluctuation in numbers,” BBMP Special Commissioner (Health) Randeep D said.
“The situation isn’t alarming. But we should remain cautious.”

BBMP’s Chief Health Officer B K Vijendra echoed the opinion, pointing out that most containment zones have less than five cases. “Rise in containment zones could be the influx of people from the neighbouring states,” he said. “Apart from the cluster at the Horamavu nursing school, other clusters have three to five cases.”