containment zones

In an online meeting with apartment RWA representatives on August 14, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad clarified doubts on COVID management. The meeting covered the current rules on containment zones, festival permissions, waste management, quarantine and isolation guidelines, etc. BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance & IT) Rajendra Cholan, and Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management & Animal Husbandry) Randeep D also attended the session. Following are some key questions answered at the meeting. Q: Will houses with COVID patients continue to be barricaded? Having received multiple complaints from citizens on inhuman barricading of COVID-positive houses, Manjunath clarified this practice would no longer…

Since the recent surge in COVID-positive cases, Bengaluru's health infrastructure has been overburdened. There are several reports of government agencies' delayed response and of patients not finding hospital beds in time. Vikram Rai, a member of the governing council of Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF), says, "The response from the BBMP is more and more delayed as the number of cases rises. Sometimes, it can take up to 2-3 days." BAF is an association of over 750 RWAs and AOAs (Apartment Owners Associations) in the city. So, when an apartment resident tests positive now, the onus of first response often falls…

Complete lockdown from July 14 to 22 Bengaluru will go into complete lockdown from July 14 to 22 in the wake of surging COVID cases, state government announced on Saturday. The lockdown will be in effect in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from 8 pm on July 14 to 5 am on July 22. Essential services like hospitals and grocery shops will be allowed, along with scheduled exams. Detailed guidelines would be released on July 13, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa tweeted. On Saturday, Bengaluru reported a record 1,533 new cases, taking its overall COVID tally to 16,862. The city…

State involves private hospitals in COVID treatment As COVID cases increased sharply, the state government notified 20 big corporate healthcare institutions that run a chain of hospitals as DCHCs (Dedicated COVID-19 Health Care Centres) and CCCs (COVID-19 Care Centres). The corporate facilities were asked to identify one branch each, that can be converted into a dedicated facility. The identified branches are expected to have good medical facilities in terms of beds, high-flow nasal oxygen wards, ICUs and ventilators. If private hospitals don't comply with the rules, the state government might take them over based on the Disaster Management Act, said…

COVID-19 cases cross 1000 mark in Bengaluru With 94 new COVID cases reported on June 20, Bengaluru became the third district in Karnataka to have over 1000 cases. As of Saturday, the city had 1076 cases and 61 deaths. It has had 319 containment zones overall, of which 279 are currently active. Tracking the source of infection has been a challenge in many cases. Another concern is that more police personnel are testing positive for COVID. As on Saturday, 39 personnel had tested positive and two had died. Bengaluru still has the lowest COVID burden among cities with population of…

Lockdown relaxations in Bengaluru As Bengaluru (Urban) is categorised as a red zone district by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), relaxation in restrictions from May 4 will be minimal here unlike districts categorised as orange and green zones. However, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, S Suresh Kumar, said Bengaluru will not be completely locked down, and that economic activities would restart in wards that do not have containment zones. He said restrictions will be more in the 24 containment zones in the city. State government has also categorised wards within the city as red, orange and green zones…