Anekal and Nelamangala in Bengaluru among 20 urban areas worst hit by COVID-19 in state

BENGALURU: Two towns from Bengaluru Urban and Rural are among the 20 urban areas worst hit by COVID-19 in the last seven days, as per the state war room. One is Nelamanagala under Bengaluru Rural district and the other is Anekal in Bengaluru Urban. The week-on-week change has been 188.9 percent in Nelamangala and 131.3 percent in Anekal.

Across four weeks, 58 cases were recorded in Nelamangala and 130 in Anekal. In the last seven days, they recorded 17 and 21 cases, respectively.

At the peak, Anekal recorded around 1300 COVID-19 cases a day which has now come down to 2 digits. However, COVID-19 is still not wiped out of here. As it borders Tamil Nadu and as there are a large number of industrial areas, namely Jigani, Bommasandra, and Electronic City, there is a movement of nearly 15,000 people in and out each day. These people reside in places such as Hosur and come to work in Anekal, said J Manjunath, Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner.

"We have random COVID-19 testing at the border check posts, industrial areas and worker housing areas. The testing has not come down despite fewer cases. There are 10,000 tests done outside BBMP limits each day and 3000 to 3500 are in Anekal. We are tracking the situation closely and are doing contact tracing," Manjunath said.

There are 13 Primary Health Centres here and COVID-19 Care Centres (CCC) are still not shut down. He informed that cases are sporadic and 11.5 lakh people have been vaccinated outside BBMP in Bengaluru Urban limits.

Dr Thippeswamy, district health officer of Bengaluru Rural, said the movement of people could be a reason why cases are still being reported in Nelamangala.

"The total positivity rate is less than 1 per cent in Bengaluru Rural and taluks in Nelamangala are reporting less than 10 cases a day, while the district as a whole is reporting 40 cases a day," Dr Thippeswamy added.

The remaining 18 towns which are in the top 20 list include Kaup in Udupi, Sulya in Dakshina Kannada, Sowmavarapet in Kodagu, Sakleshpur in Hassan, Tiptur in Tumakuru, Nanjangud in Mysuru, Nippani in Belagavi, Vijayapura in Vijayapura, Gadag in Gadag, Karkala in Udupi, Chitradurga in Chitradurga, Puttur in Dakshina Kannada, Ankola in Uttara Kannada, Mandya in Malavalli, Chamrajanagar in Chamarajanagar, Ballari in Ballari, Udupi and Kundapura in Udupi.