<p>As Bengaluru continues to fuel the Covid-19 surge in the state, four wards out of the 198 in the city have managed to keep cases below 100 even six months after the outbreak of the pandemic.</p>.<p>DJ Halli, Kushal Nagar and Devasandra reported cases in the range of 61-80 while Kempapura Agrahara saw 81-100 cases till August 27, according to BBMP war room incharge Hephsiba Rani Korlapati.</p>.<p>Authorities say institutional quarantine and other containment measures played a major role in halting the march of the virus in some of these thickly-populated areas. </p>.<p>On the contrary, 191 wards in the city saw cases in the range of 121-140 since the outbreak. (There are wards with over 140 cases and the war room report doesn’t always reflect all the cases.)</p>.<p>Ward 47 DJ Halli in East Zone reported 64 cases, out of which 29 patients are active carriers of the virus. There were five Covid deaths so far. Dr Nishath Fathima, medical officer of DJ Halli, told <span class="italic">DH</span> that institutional quarantine helped to contain the infection.</p>.<p>According to the protocol, if the residence of a patient is not conducive for home quarantine, even asymptomatic patients can be shifted to institutional quarantine. “Since the ward is predominantly a slum area, we would shift all asymptomatic and symptomatic cases to Covid Care Centres or hospitals. We started seeing cases only towards the end of May and beginning of June,” she said.</p>.<p>Both DJ Halli and Kushal Nagar are in the East Zone. East Zone nodal officer Dr Bhaskar Rajkumar said that the curfew imposed after the riot in Pulkeshinagar constituency helped in containing the outbreak, as there was<br />reduced movement.</p>.<p>“Both these wards have 70% thickly populated slum areas. Hence, we had to institutionally quarantine positive patients. Even the primary contacts were quarantined and that helped in containing the infection,” Dr Bhaskar Rajkumar said. </p>.<p>Devasandra ward corporator M N Srikanth said his ward has busy commercial areas like KR Puram Market and Phoenix Mall. “We had 60 youth volunteers deployed on each main road to check containment measures and quarantine violations.”</p>.<p>All vendors in the KR Puram market were asked to mandatorily wear masks during Varamahalakshmi, Gowri-Ganesha festivals. Immediate shifting of patients to hospitals and Covid Care Centres also helped in containing the infection, Srikanth said adding that currently, there are only 37 active cases.</p>
<p>As Bengaluru continues to fuel the Covid-19 surge in the state, four wards out of the 198 in the city have managed to keep cases below 100 even six months after the outbreak of the pandemic.</p>.<p>DJ Halli, Kushal Nagar and Devasandra reported cases in the range of 61-80 while Kempapura Agrahara saw 81-100 cases till August 27, according to BBMP war room incharge Hephsiba Rani Korlapati.</p>.<p>Authorities say institutional quarantine and other containment measures played a major role in halting the march of the virus in some of these thickly-populated areas. </p>.<p>On the contrary, 191 wards in the city saw cases in the range of 121-140 since the outbreak. (There are wards with over 140 cases and the war room report doesn’t always reflect all the cases.)</p>.<p>Ward 47 DJ Halli in East Zone reported 64 cases, out of which 29 patients are active carriers of the virus. There were five Covid deaths so far. Dr Nishath Fathima, medical officer of DJ Halli, told <span class="italic">DH</span> that institutional quarantine helped to contain the infection.</p>.<p>According to the protocol, if the residence of a patient is not conducive for home quarantine, even asymptomatic patients can be shifted to institutional quarantine. “Since the ward is predominantly a slum area, we would shift all asymptomatic and symptomatic cases to Covid Care Centres or hospitals. We started seeing cases only towards the end of May and beginning of June,” she said.</p>.<p>Both DJ Halli and Kushal Nagar are in the East Zone. East Zone nodal officer Dr Bhaskar Rajkumar said that the curfew imposed after the riot in Pulkeshinagar constituency helped in containing the outbreak, as there was<br />reduced movement.</p>.<p>“Both these wards have 70% thickly populated slum areas. Hence, we had to institutionally quarantine positive patients. Even the primary contacts were quarantined and that helped in containing the infection,” Dr Bhaskar Rajkumar said. </p>.<p>Devasandra ward corporator M N Srikanth said his ward has busy commercial areas like KR Puram Market and Phoenix Mall. “We had 60 youth volunteers deployed on each main road to check containment measures and quarantine violations.”</p>.<p>All vendors in the KR Puram market were asked to mandatorily wear masks during Varamahalakshmi, Gowri-Ganesha festivals. Immediate shifting of patients to hospitals and Covid Care Centres also helped in containing the infection, Srikanth said adding that currently, there are only 37 active cases.</p>
