Bengaluru Covid-19 clusters: Onus now on self-reporting, says Health Commissioner Dr Thrilok Chandra

With the number of fresh Covid-19 cases in Yelahanka clusters rising from 28 to 33 on Saturday, Health Commissioner Dr Thrilok Chandra said that the Health Department would have to relook quarantine guidelines from Maharashtra and Kerala. 

Currently, there is no quarantine watch app and even the Aarogya Setu app does not ensure that travellers from these two states stay put at home without any contact for two weeks, which was the case last year and this year with international travellers. 

“As of now, we have mandated a negative RT-PCR certificate but if any symptoms arise, they have to self-quarantine and observe themselves, and have a follow-up RT-PCR test. It is more about self-reporting right now. Residents’ welfare associations are currently taking care of returnees from other states,” he said.

Read: Yelahanka Covid clusters reveal shaky border control, low vigilance at educational institutions

Dr Chandra said that every day, three lakh to four lakh people enter the border checkposts. “That is why, as a follow-up, the students coming to educational institutions from Kerala and Maharashtra are being tested, and that is how they’re being detected,” Chandra told DH.  

Patients have been admitted to the KC General Hospital, Aster Hospital, MS Ramaiah and Yelahanka General Hospital. In an 80-year-old female patient's case at MS Ramaiah Hospital (mother-in-law of Mumbai returnee from Purva Venezia apartment), who already had a disease that causes lung scarring, doctors are unable to tell whether the scar tissue is because of Covid or the old disease and have put her on five litres oxygen.

Read: Lowering of guard: Bengaluru apartments must try to stop coronavirus surge

Dr Naresh Shetty, President, MS Ramaiah Hospital said, “She has interstitial lung disorder with fibrotic changes, who was already on home oxygen. Her husband is resolving already, which means the disease has settled.”

Dr Anil Kumar, HOD, Medicine, MS Ramaiah Hospital told DH, “She is being administered Remdesivir and is on five litres oxygen. She has moderate Covid. Since she already has lung disease, we are unable to understand if the scarring is because of Covid or because of the old disease. Her daughter has also been admitted here and is maintaining oxygen saturation at room air.”

Dr Asma Tabassum, Medical Superintendent, Yelahanka General hospital said the hospital is treating a 20-year-old woman from Sambhram College and two men (aged 20 and 21) from the same college. "Their oxygen saturation is very good. Supplemental oxygen is not necessary for now. All are doing fine for now," she said.