Tamil Nadu returnee’s family in JP Nagar apartment in Bengaluru tests COVID-19 positive

Residents of Brigade Millenium Apartments in upscale JP Nagar (Jaraganahalli) in Bengaluru are nervous after three family members of Patient 1930, 54, who returned from Chennai on May 12, tested positive.

The three individuals include the patient’s wife and his two children.

The JP Nagar cases are part of the five new infections registered in Bengaluru Urban on Sunday, although four of them were not reported in the daily bulletin issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare.

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But the Bengaluru Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) confirmed the additional cases. Officials from the Department of Health could not be reached for comment on the discrepancy.

Though there are concerns over a new cluster breaking out in the apartment complex due to P-1930’s movements over the past 11 days, the BBMP said it was not imposing any stringent restrictions based on its interviews with Resident Welfare Association (RWA) members.

Anbukumar V, the Additional Commissioner (Admin), BBMP, who is in-charge of the zone, said the BBMP was not introducing any stringent testing or lockdown protocols beyond the existing regulations.

“This is because we have ascertained that Patient 1930 and his family self-quarantined after they returned to their complex,” Anbukumar said.

The officer said the apartment RWA had imposed a condition of self-isolation upon the family after their return from Tamil Nadu.

“This condition of self-quarantining was the only way the family could live in their homes,” the Additional Commissioner said. “Based on our interviews of the RWA members and other people living on the same floor, we have learned that the family took their isolation seriously. We have been told that they did not step outside their apartment unit. Even groceries were delivered to their doorstep.”

The civic body added that it will monitor the situation for 48 hours to determine if more stringent measures are required. “In the meantime, we have called upon the apartment dwellers to report any symptoms, no matter how minor,” Anbukumar said.

London returnee tests positive

Meanwhile, a 27-year-old woman, who had returned to Bengaluru from London on May 10 in a Vande Bharat flight, has tested positive. The details of Patient 2069, a resident of Whitefield, were included in the daily bulletin.

“We were surprised by this development. She tested positive 13 days after arriving in the country,” said Dr Vijendra Bilaguli, Chief Health Officer, BBMP, adding that the typical incubation period of the virus is about four days