Inter-state coronavirus problem seeps into Bengaluru, 19 such cases reported

SP Road, the busy electronics hub near KR Market, continued to buzz with people despite being sealed down. DH PHOTO/M S MANJUNATH

Karnataka's glaring problem with inter-state travellers is starting to seep into Bengaluru, as the city reported 19 such new cases on Wednesday.

However, officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that there were no immediate steps to increase quarantine measures for travellers from problematic states.

“We are following the official guidelines. There is no possibility of us increasing institutional quarantine times,” said a special commissioner with the BBMP.

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Since further relaxations were made to inter-state and inter-district travel on May 18, 79 positive Covid cases among travellers have been discovered in the city, including Wednesday’s cases.

Among these, 40 individuals are from Maharashtra, 12 from Delhi, eight from Tamil Nadu, two from Rajasthan and one from Andhra Pradesh. The rest 16 cases are from various other locations, including some which are inter-district cases.

Another senior Palike official said it was proving challenging to keep road travellers under check, saying that major skirting of border controls was taking place in several areas, especially those along the border with Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

According to the BBMP, it has jurisdiction over the railway and the airport entry points, while the district administration has oversight over road entry points.

Wednesday’s cases

Of Wednesday’s four new cases that fall under the BBMP’s limits, three are airline passengers arriving via domestic flights. The last one is a 58-year-old woman with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), who was at a private hospital in the city.

“As per government regulation, she was tested for Covid-19 and turned out to be positive,” the senior Palike official said, adding that a containment zone will be set up at her residence in the South Zone. However, the officials did not have the exact location at hand.

The remaining 16 cases are said to fall into Bengaluru Urban limits, under the district health office. All are inter-state travellers.

40 containment zones

A fresh Covid-19 positive case from Visvesvarapuram (VV Puram) in southern Bengaluru further increased the city’s list of containment zones with a total tally of 40 zones.

The western parts of Bengaluru have the highest number of containment zones in 11 localities followed by Eastern Bengaluru with 7 localities, according to the data provided by the BBMP Covid-19 war room.