A total of 103 people have tested positive for Covid-19 from an apartment complex in Bommanahalli area of Bengaluru after a recent party, reported The Indian Express on Tuesday. The civic body said a party was organised on February 4 in an apartment building in the neighbourhood.

“We have tested 1,052 residents of the apartment; one person is admitted in the hospital and others are in quarantine,” Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad told the newspaper. “The BBMP had put in place various measures, including isolating and quarantining those who had tested positive and we have intensified contact tracing.”

Authorities said that the spread of the infection came to light when a few of them got tested before a scheduled trip to Dehradun. “On February 10 their test results came positive and immediately they alerted the Residents Welfare Association of the apartment where the BBMP was informed and tested the residents,” Bommanahalli zone Joint Commissioner M Ramakrishna told The Indian Express.

The apartment complex has been declared a containment zone, according to the health ministry’s protocol.

The civic body has also sent samples to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences, or NIMHANS, for genome sequencing to find the virus variant. “Samples of all those who have returned from Kerala have tested positive and are now sent for genome sequencing to NIMHANS,” the civic body said, according to The New Indian Express.

The BBMP chief said that all travellers from Kerala to Bengaluru should get a negative coronavirus test report within 72 hours. Prasad urged residents welfare associations to keep an eye on everyone who has Covid-19 symptoms, and on travellers from Kerala or other states where coronavirus cases are high.

The civic body also asked those who are asymptomatic after getting tested to continue to remain in home isolation for 17 days. Locals were asked to isolate themselves if they have not been tested, and inform the BBMP. The authorities also appealed to people with co-morbidities to get hospitalised if they test positive, reported The New Indian Express.

Prasad asked residents of apartments not to organise closed-door functions, and hold events in open-air venues with face masks and physical distancing.

As of Tuesday morning, the Bengaluru urban district has reported 258 new infections, pushing the city’s case tally to 4,02,212. Two more deaths in 24 hours took the city’s overall toll to 4,430. There have been 3,93,883 discharges, including 227 on Monday, and 3,898 active cases in the city.

India on Tuesday recorded 9,121 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 1,09,25,710, the health ministry data showed. This was the fourth time this month when the daily infections fell below 10,000. Deaths rose by 81 to 1,55,813.


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Coronavirus: Daily cases fall below 10,000 fourth time this month with 9,121 new infections today