60 wards under tight vigil to check spread

BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the health department face a big challenge -- to ensure that there is no community spread. But even bigger is the challenge to ensure that the number of cases in each ward is curtailed, and for this, the two departments are keeping a close watch on wards where more than one case has been reported in the past few days.

The two departments have decided to tighten vigil, more so after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that a close watch should be kept on such areas till April 20. Officials say no cases have been reported from 138 wards. “Cases have been reported from 60 wards, but over a period of time and in ones or twos, except for 10 wards where more than one case was reported. We have decided to keep a close watch on these wards and some others where many cases were reported,” a senior BBMP official told TNIE, on condition of anonymity. 

Some of the wards under watch include Goripalya, Bapuji Nagar, Padarayanapura, Singasandra, Whitefield, Rajajinagar, Radhakrishna Nagar, Horamavu, Aramane Nagar, Jeevan Bima Nagar, Vasanth Nagar, Azad Nagar, JP Nagar and Shakambari Nagar. BBMP war room data shows the maximum number of cases have been reported from East (15 cases as on April 12) and South (15) zones, followed by West (10), Mahadevapura (10), Bommanahalli (4), Yelahanka (2) and Rajarajeshwari Nagar (1). No cases were reported from Dasarahalli zone. 

BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar said that so far, only Bapuji Nagar and Padarayanapura wards have been sealed. “No other ward has been sealed and no decision has been taken on this. We are also undertaking intensive sanitation and fumigation and controlling the movement of people,” he said. Health officials said special attention is being paid to areas where many primary and secondary contacts reside. “Since the number of cases in Bengaluru is only rising, utmost care is being paid to the old areas (remaining 30 wards) where cases were reported in the past,” the official said. “Only three hotspots were sealed. Hotspots are areas where many cases are reported in a short span of time, and include quarantined cases too,” a senior health official stated.