Two new containment zones in Bengaluru

BBMP yet to ascertain source of virus, trace contacts of 2 patients

With two new positive COVID-19 cases being reported, there are as many new containment zones in the Bengaluru. While a positive case has been reported from a slum in Nagawara, another case has been reported from an area in Jnanabharathinagar.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar, accompanied by senior civic officials, visited Nagawara on Wednesday morning and issued instructions with regard to fixing perimeters and sealing down the areas.

While the source of the infection is yet to be ascertained for both cases, the civic officials have begun the contact tracing process, said a source. As many as 60 persons, living near the patient in the slum, had been identified as primary and secondary contacts. All of them are likely to be shifted to an institutional quarantine facility, the source said.

There were 121 active COVID-19 cases in the city’s 19 containment zones. Of these, the maximum number of active cases are in Shivajinagar ward (46), followed by Padarayanapura (36), Hongasandra (17) and Mangammanapalya (9).

To check the spread of the pandemic, especially in the containment zones, the civic body had taken up Adaptive Stratified Random Sampling method for testing. Under this method, the civic body’s health officials identified people with co-morbidities, pregnant women, those with ILI (Influenza-like Illness) and SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Infection) and tested them, said Hephsiba Rani Korlapati, managing director of Bengaluru Smart City Pvt. Ltd., who is also in-charge of the BBMP’s war room.

Citing the example of Padarayanapura, she said that nearly 400 samples were collected for testing based on the Adaptive Stratified Random Sampling method. Of these, only 7 tested positive.

“We can rework and improvise the method and sampling depending on the results of testing, correlation and analysis,” she said.

The civic body, she said, had also developed an app – BBMP Contains – for monitoring surveillance and redressing grievances in the containment zones. The residents were being asked to download the app through which they could lodge complaints and track the same. A dedicated task force had been created to address the complaint within three hours from the time of lodging of the complaint, she added.