Hostile super-spreader prompts intense testing in Mangammanapalya

A COVID-19 patient in Mangammanapalya hid his status with the help of local doctors, prompting municipal and health officials to deploy largescale testing infrastructure to determine the spread of the disease.

On May 12, the BBMP discovered that a Mangammanapalya clinic had failed to report a positive case in Madina Nagar. The patient, P911, is believed to have infected several others.

BBMP officials launched a programme to conduct random testing in the ward from Saturday. “We are aggressively tracking P911’s primary and secondary contacts. We have been contacting everybody on his phone list, but the subject is uncooperative,” explained Anbukumar V, Additional Commissioner (Administration), BBMP.

The official said they would deploy a mobile testing van from Tuesday. “Once the containment area is thoroughly tested, we will expand the testing to the buffer zone,” Anbukumar added. The buffer zone measures about 2.56 square kilometres.

A BBMP officer clarified that authorities have done 60 tests in the ward, including 37 from P911’s family. Six positive cases have been found. “This includes one new case on Tuesday. We are focusing the random testing on P911’s family,” the BBMPofficer said.

Civic officials fear more cases since the extent of P911’s movement before his identification is unclear.

Six cases, one death

On Tuesday, Bengaluru Urban reported six cases, including three who met an infected individual in Padarayanapura. A 32-year-old man identified with COVID-19 after he showed symptoms of Influenza-Like Illness (ILI).

The last case is Patient 1364, a 54-year-old male who went to a private hospital in RR Nagar with chest pain. A patient of Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD), the man died at the hospital on Monday.

“We suspected that the cause of death was something else and when we investigated, he had COVID-19,” Anbukumar said. The additional commissioner added that contact tracing was underway.