Rajaji Nagar (Chenkalchoola) is one of the housing colonies in the capital that remained almost impervious to COVID-19 during its first wave last year, but now in the second wave, some mild cases have been reported from here.
On Thursday, as many as 30 residents from here who had tested positive were shifted to the COVID-19 first-line treatment centre (FLTC) at Samethi in Anayara.
With more than 1,000 houses on 11.5 acres, physical distancing is not easily achieved here. Yet, right from the initial days of the pandemic, a group of youth from the locality joined hands with the civic authorities to create awareness and take measures to shield the locality from the virus.
Several steps
These measures, including handwash points, continuous awareness campaigns, and a bar on outsiders for some period, all paid off, with the colony reporting zero cases in the first few months last year. However, with the waning of the first wave, the guard was let down a bit, which seemed to have reflected in the cases being reported from here.
“Most of the cases that were reported have been asymptomatic. There was one death in the colony a few days ago, of a 70-year-old person. Only following the tests that were conducted after the death that we came to know that the person had contracted the virus. The second phase came too fast, and now we have stepped up prevention measures like last year. Disinfection is being carried out,” says Akhil, a resident of Rajaji Nagar.
Thampanoor ward councillor C. Harikumar says that tests are being carried out among those who remain there.
There was a delay in identifying the first few patients, but now all of them have been shifted to FLTCs.
