Bengaluru's civic body girds up to tackle third wave of COVID-19

Special Commissioner (Health) D Randeep said that ground work is on to scale up infrastructure, take up rigorous testing and plan home isolation protocol.
BBMP's Special Commissioner (Health) D Randeep
BBMP's Special Commissioner (Health) D Randeep

BENGALURU: With the third wave expected to set in around October, BBMP is focusing on strengthening medical response and availability of hospital and COVID care beds for children. The idea is to be prepared, said Randeep D, Special Commissioner, Health, in an interview with The New Indian Express.

Randeep, who recently took charge as health commissioner, said BBMP would be prepared for a scenario where more children need medical attention. "A meeting was held with paediatricians of prominent hospitals in Mahadevapura zone, and inputs were taken. This will be undertaken in other zones too. The State Task Force would give us directions and it’s also proposed to have a committee of paediatricians in an advisory role," said Randeep.

Covid Care Centres (CCCs) will be reoriented to have childcare-specific beds, and there is a plan to upgrade some maternity homes with paediatric beds. "It is also decided to work on proper home isolation, and monitoring protocol for home-isolated children," he added.

Asked if more teams would be set up for containment, isolation and testing, Randeep pointed out that testing, contact tracing and containment teams have been functioning continuously, and there is no plan to downscale these operations.

"In fact, perimeter testing around the area where positive cases are detected will help in early identification of clusters. Epidemiologists in each zone have been tasked with predicting a surge, by analysing the present infection pattern or clusters," he added.

On vaccination being key to countering the third wave, BBMP plans to achieve a target of 1 lakh vaccinations per day. However, it is contingent on timely supply and delivery to vaccination sites. BBMP's present stock of Covishield vials is around 33,000, and Covaxin around 35,000.

Randeep disclosed that door-to-door survey was taken up to identify vaccinated households for planning future vaccination drives. "Four vaccine vans have been kept at BBMP head office to ensure timely delivery of vaccine stocks. We are involving NGOs and RWAs to mobilise the vulnerable population for vaccination. PHC-based vaccination for those aged above 45 years, and worksite-based vaccination for priority groups is being planned," he said.

With one Delta-Plus variant case found in Bengaluru, Randeep said that BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta has prioritised genome sequencing, and BBMP is taking it up with private labs on a pilot basis.

At present, around eight samples are being genome sequenced per day. Subsequently, this would be taken up in more labs with a target of 5 per cent of positive samples daily.

He said the focus is now on consolidating learnings from the second wave, and improving response time. "The Chief Commissioner has always emphasised getting the basics right - targeted testing and tracking, physical triage, regular home visits and effective containment measures. We are using the low caseload to improve systems," he added.

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