Bengaluru sees 12 fresh COVID-19 cases

The state health department reported 12 fresh COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru on Saturday, five of which DH had reported on Friday.

The five, including four men and a woman, contracted the disease from P419, a Bihari scrap dealer in the Hongasandra cluster. The men are P759 (aged 36), P760 (60), P766 (40), P767 (24), while the woman is P768, aged 37.

With these, Hongasandra now has 38 cases, including six discharged who are migrant labourers and their contacts. The cluster has 32 active cases, including three from a family in Mangammanapalya — a truck driver (P654), his wife and son. The source of his infection is unknown.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

The source of the infection of P419, another index patient, is unknown. Health department data has revealed that he has infected 34 people. Nearly 190 primary contacts and 65 secondary contacts have been evacuated from Hongasandra, quarantined and their samples taken. All of them have tested negative. The BBMP has randomly tested 112 people in the area so far.

Community transmission

Meanwhile, the Padarayanapura cluster had one more addition to the Corona tally with a 20-year-old woman (P765) testing positive. The health department bulletin said the woman is a contact of residents of Padarayanapura.

A patient in Sira taluk of Tumakuru was also found to be a contact of a Padarayanapura resident (P764) — the 45-year-old man. “He is a Padarayanapura resident who has tested positive in Tumakuru,” a BBMP official said.

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 9

So far, Padarayanapura has 45 patients, with 169 primary contacts and 313 secondary contacts. Five among the 185 randomly tested people have been found to be positive.

Authorities have identified only three index patients so far — P167, P158 and P181 — who had spread the infection to the 45 people in Padarayanapura. The three have a travel history to New Delhi.

BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar said the state health department will provide three mobile vans to randomly test all 40,000 residents of Padarayanapura on Monday. “Since we have found cases outside the cluster only in (connected to) Padarayanapura, we have decided to hold the random testing here. The other new cases from Bengaluru that tested positive on Saturday include P761 (55-year-old woman) and P775 (31-year-old woman), both contacts of P449; P762 (20-year-old woman), P763 (40-year-old woman), P773 (46-year-old man) and P774 (19-year-old woman), all contacts of P454.