BENGALURU: With the State government expecting a huge surge in Covid-19 cases, Sree Kanteerava Stadium has emerged as the top priority facility on the list of institutional quarantine centres, despite reports that sporting activities have begun there.
BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar said: “We have always considered having Kanteerava Stadium as an institutional quarantine centre. It is on our priority list. One of the hostels dedicated to sportspersons was earlier listed as a quarantine facility.”
He said that even if sporting activities start at Kanteerava Stadium, the facility can be acquired for institutional quarantine as and when the need arises. “If cases increase, we will have to use the stadium,” he said.
Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar had earlier stated that they were anticipating a surge in Covid-19 cases after August, and that the government was taking all measures to deal with the situation. The authorities were looking at converting large stadiums into institutional quarantine centres, following which a team of officials had visited Kanteerava Stadium last week.
However, Commissioner of Health & Family Welfare Pankaj Kumar Pandey said that so far, nothing was confirmed on making the stadium an institutional quarantine centre.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the Sports & Youth Services department said that many sportspersons had resumed their training at the stadium.
A source at the stadium said that although they have kept Standard Operating Procedures ready and set aside two hours in the mornings and evenings to resume training of athletes, very few actually turned up on Monday. “If the stadium is taken over by the government as a quarantine facility, no training will be held there,” the source said.