Karnataka govt doubts efficacy of coronavirus lockdown

Karnataka on Thursday reported 36 COVID-19 cases, its biggest single-day spike so far, with the surging cases making state officials question the impact of the lockdown in containing the spread of the outbreak.

The majority of patients were from north Karnataka’s Belagavi and Vijayapura districts, with the former reporting a whopping 17 cases. Bengaluru, with 32 hotspots, saw 5 fresh cases, which would make relaxation of restrictions difficult in the state capital even after May 3, when the extended lockdown is scheduled to end.

Among the 36 cases, seven were from Vijayapura, three each from the Mysuru-Nanjangud pharma cluster and Kalaburagi and one from Gadag. Thursday’s cases — which include five children, 21 males and 15 women — take the state’s tally to 315.

Minister for Primary & Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar was quite blunt on the impact of the lockdown in containing the contagion.

“I think that we all know by now that the lockdown has been less than 100% effective. We have had movement of people. By that measure, I would have to say that the lockdown may not have worked,” Suresh Kumar told DH.

The government, said Kumar, was now mulling to erect a “double-celled” containment system to halt the spread of the deadly pathogen.

“Containment zones will be erected in problematic areas, within which buffer zones will also take shape. The lockdown has been less than 100% successful, yes, but we will now focus on sealing the hotspot areas completely,” Kumar said.

The minister said the plan for the containment zones will be announced on Friday.

Pankaj Pandey, Commissioner, Department of Health and Family Welfare, said that monitoring within these zones will be at a higher level.

“This is already happening in Vijayapura, at Chapparband Galli, which is the ground zero of infection in the town,” Pandey said.

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Hard times ahead for Bengaluru

With Bengaluru reporting new cases every day, it is unlikely that the entire city will see a complete relaxation of lockdown after May 3, said officials from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP).

As of now, the city has been demarcated into 32 hotspots, based on at least one positive case in the last 28 days, down from 38 a few days ago.

“We reviewed the list of hotspots and dropped six wards which had not reported any new COVID-19 positive case in the last 28 days,” BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar told mediapersons on Thursday.

A senior official of the BBMP health wing explained how the hotspot system works.

As per the Centre’s protocol, A Red Zone can be categorised as orange if no positive case is reported in 14 days. If the same area does not report a single positive case in the next 14 days, it will be declared a Green Zone (non-infected) wards.

“The entire process spans 28 days. If any of the wards continue to report fresh cases, wards will continue to be under the lockdown,” he said.

The BBMP commissioner said Bapuji Nagar and Padarayanapura will continue to remain sealed for a period of 28 days, starting from the day they were cut off (April 10). As for the hotspots, he said that special status and monitoring systems will remain in place until the wards show zero COVID-19 cases for a period of 28 days.

Flouting rules

Anil Kumar also expressed displeasure over the continued flouting of rules by the public.

“There have been regular complaints pertaining to violation of lockdown and sealdown orders, giving an impression that the situation is going out of control. If people do not abide by the rules, it would become inevitable for us to use force,” he warned and flagged the problem of distribution of milk packets.

BBMP official quarantined

A BBMP health officer was quarantined after he showed COVID-19 symptoms. “The officer’s blood samples have been sent for testing and the reports are awaited. But we have moved the officer to quarantine facility already,” officials said.