2,225 violate home quarantine in West Zone, most in any ward

Officials and volunteers are working hard to rein in rampant home quarantine breachers in the West Zone, which reels from some of the highest Covid-19 cases.

The violators, they fear, could potentially widen the outbreak.

According to the BBMP war room, there have been 2,741 new Covid-19 cases in the West Zone over the last 10 days — the most in any ward.

Quarantine Squad data shows that there are 2,225 violators of home quarantine in this part of the city. Of these, 175 are Priority 1 repeat offenders, nearly all of whom are individuals who have come from other states.

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Fifty-seven are Andhra Pradesh residents, 15 from Rajasthan, 12 from Tamil Nadu, nine from Maharashtra, six each from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, four from Gujarat, three from Goa, and two each from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana. In addition, 35 cases do not have location information. One is from Karnataka.

Among the top breachers, 136 are male and 36 females.

Quarantine Squad Members told DH that many of the repeat breachers had little regard for social-distancing regulations. BBMP commissioner B H Anil Kumar said monitoring them is a huge challenge.

“Violators are shirking their responsibilities. Where the Aarogya Setu app was intended to serve as a reliable monitoring source, we have found people leaving their cell phones at home and going out,” he said.

Dr P R S Chetan, Officer Commanding Headquarters, Civil Defence, added that 625 FIRs had been filed to date against repeat offenders under the aegis of the National Disaster Management Act (NDMA).

“We rely on three reporting mechanisms: the Aarogya Setu app, and if that fails, repeat visits by members of the Quarantine Squad and lastly, the vigil of neighbours to inform us if any home quarantiners slip out. It is through these methods that we have had success in tracking down violators,” he said.

Interestingly, the ward with the highest number of violators is Mahalakshmipuram. Padarayanapura is noted as having only 10 violators, all of which are Priority 2 cases (one-time violators). However, in neighboring Rayapura, 194 violations have been registered.

What happens to violators once caught is not black and white, said officials. The state’s covid war room data revealed over 1.52 lakh violations in the city since the outbreak began. Of these, over 1.51 lakh have been let off with a warning, while 71 are sent into institutional quarantine.

Dr Chetan explained most violators are one-time breachers. “At times, they have genuine reasons for going out such as trying to secure essential supplies. In some cases, however, the reasons are more suspect. Sometimes, we have people telling us that they never left home, but their phones were taken out by a relative,” he said.