BENGALURU: In a heartening sign, 64 of the 198 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) wards have 10 or less Covid-19 cases. However, three wards — Horamavu, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Begur — have reported over 90 cases each.
Of the 7,443 active cases in Bengaluru Urban district as on September 24, there are 4,324 cases in the BBMP limits, while 442 are from Bengaluru Urban and 2,677 are from outside Bengaluru. According to officials, some of those who tested positive in Bengaluru Urban had left the city for other districts by the time their test results were out. Some others, who even knew they had tested positive, had left for their hometowns, they said.
A BBMP epidemiologist said, “Even though many wards have less number of cases, there has been movement of people and crowding in certain areas like markets. This needs to be controlled and one should not ignore Covid-appropriate behaviour (CAB).”
Data from the BBMP shows none of the wards in the city were Covid-free, but two wards — Lakshmidevi Nagar (No. 42), and Sudham Nagar (No. 118) — had one case each while Bapuji Nagar (No. 134), Padarayanpura (No. 135), Rayapuram (No. 137), Neelasandra (No. 116) and SK Garden (No. 61) had two cases each. Horamavu had 98 active cases while RR Nagar had 91 and Begur 95, the highest cases amongst all the wards. Kempegowda ward (No. 1) had 74 cases, Bellandur 74 and Uttarahalli 75 cases.
BBMP Commissioner-Health Randeep D said, “Right now, we are not going by ward-wise cases. We have been keeping a watch on clusters. Recently, there were clusters at nursing colleges, which we focused on so that it shouldn’t spread. If more people in a family are found to be positive in apartment complexes, they are asked to move to institutional quarantine. Most of the positive patients under home isolation are mild cases, which is a good sign.”
A health officer from Mahadevpura zone, which covers wards like Horamavu and Bellandur, said, “Some have construction site workers or migrant population, who have been testing positive. There are also cases of people travelling and testing positive. However, right now, the numbers are in control. Overall, the positivity rate in Mahadevpura zone is 0.55%, which is quite low.”