Karnataka reported 18 cases of the novel coronavirus out of which nine were from the one colony i.e. Vidyajyothinagara, Hongasandra ward in the city of Bengaluru. All the nine cases were the primary contacts of Patient 419, a 54-year-old migrant laborer who tested positive on Wednesday.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has now sealed the area that accommodates over 500 houses along with temporary sheds for the construction workers. After the nine cases were reported on the late night of Wednesday, the BBMP led by Commissioner BH Anil Kumar was quick to evacuate and test all the secondary contacts and the remaining primary contacts. He said,
“Nine of the 23 primary contacts have tested positive. The remaining 14 are under quarantine. As many as 162 secondary contacts have been traced and they are being monitored. They will be put under quarantine once their tests results are out.”
Another senior official from the BBMP said that the source of the infection is yet to be found. However, for this reason, the BBMP will be conducting door-to-door campaigns along with surveillance.
Door-to-door campaign
The MLA of Bommanahalli, Satish Reddy spoke to the media and said that the ASHA workers are carrying out a door-to-door survey for the symptoms. Fortunately, he says, the road is a dead end on one side and has a water drain on the other side that has restricted the movements of the people.
The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation has already begun an internal inquiry of whether the construction workers of that area had been a part of Namma Metro Projects. Meanwhile, a private hospital’s license was canceled for allegedly not informing the authorities of the Patient 419. A few of the hospital staff also refused to quarantine themselves.
A resident of Hongasandra, Bharathi R, spoke to the media expressing her concerns,
“We were bombarded with this news all of a sudden. Fortunately, not many people go to that part of the area as it the dead-end, However, the fear is there as it was so unexpected and so many cases at once.”
Bengaluru has so far reported 111 cases of COVID-19 that is the highest in the state. Karnataka has reported 445 confirmed cases with 17 deaths.
Source: The Hindu
