BENGALURU: Ten wards have turned Bengaluru into an epicentre of Covid cases in the state over the last seven days.With 83.5 per cent of active cases in the state, the city’s positivity rate rose to 10.53 per cent on Saturday.
Of the state’s total of 38,507 active cases, the city has 32,157. To the 8,906 cases added in the state on Sunday, Bengaluru contributed 7,113.
Data from the state Covid-19 war room shows that Bellandur, Varthur, Begur, HSR Layout, Hagadur, Doddanekkundi, New Tippasandra, Koramangala, Horamavu and Shantala Nagar wards are reporting the highest number of cases in the city, triggering the surge.
The data showed that the city reported only 1,396 cases from December 25 to 31, but added a whopping 24,281 cases between January 1 and 7.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has demarcated the wards into six levels based on the total number of active cases.
While Level 1 indicates 0-10 cases, Level 2 with 10-25 cases, Level 3 with 25 -50 cases, Level 4 with 50-100 cases, Level 5 with 100-300 cases and Level 6 with over 300 cases.
Bellandur has more than 300 active cases and is in Level 6, while Varthur, Hagadur, Dodda Nekkundi, Koramangala, HSR Layout, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Horamavu, Shantala Nagar and Begur are in Level 5.
The number of microcontainment zones, at 346, too has increased over the last ten days.
Mahadevpura zone tops the list with 116 such zones, followed by Bommanahalli (90), South (37), West (33), East (29), Darsarahalli (5) and RR Nagar (3).
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“The positivity rate has been going up in Bengaluru drastically. Just two days ago, it was around 7 per cent, but it has gone up to 10.53 per cent now. Even Bengaluru Rural has recorded a positivity of 5.95 per cent. Global trends show that it is just a matter of few weeks before other districts too will start showing high positivity rates. Already, districts like Mandya, Mysuru, Shivamogga and Udupi, are recording an uptick. Weekend and night curfews will prevent this rate from going up,” said Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar.
Officials said the number of tests in the city has been increased to nearly 70,000 per day, which has resulted in more positive cases being reported.
“Some areas are reporting more cases because of clusters in apartments in those areas. We have informed apartment associations to stop all gatherings and congregations. We have also asked them to check people’s travel history,” said a BBMP official.
Meanwhile, Dr Sudhakar tweeted that Karnataka has ramped up Covid testing to the highest levels since the beginning of the latest surge.
“Yesterday, we conducted 2 lakh tests. Karnataka has conducted 5.73 crore tests to date, the third highest in the country,” he said.
