Bengaluru declares two areas as containment zone after detecting five fresh cases

• "BBMP will completely seal Bapuji Nagar Ward 134 and Padarayanapura Ward 135 to prevent the spread of COVID after five fresh cases were reported," tweeted BBMP Commissioner B. H. Anil Kumar.
  
• The civic body would supply all essentials to the residents of the two wards, besides banning all vehicular traffic.

City civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has sealed two wards to contain the COVID-19 spread, an official said on Friday.

"BBMP will completely seal Bapuji Nagar Ward 134 and Padarayanapura Ward 135 to prevent the spread of COVID after five fresh cases were reported," tweeted BBMP Commissioner B. H. Anil Kumar.

Following the sealing, Kumar said the civic body would supply all essentials to the residents of the two wards, besides banning all vehicular traffic.

Roads blocked to enforce lockdown

Earlier to enforce the 21-lockdown to contain the coronavirus spread, the Bengaluru police turned many roads into one-way across the city for preventing violators riding or driving, police said on Thursday.

"As many people, especially youth venture out on motorbikes or cars to roam around despite lockdown, we have made over 100 main roads one-way by blocking the parallel road to stop violators from coming out for joy rides," a police official told IANS here.

Though a few categories of people are exempt from the lockdown with curfew pass to commute as they are in essential services or supplies, hundreds of others still come out of houses for a fun ride or drive on deserted roads with their adrenaline pumping.

"The one-way is to prevent violators from coming out of their homes or flats on their vehicles and indulge in drag race or zoom at top speed as the roads are virtually empty. Hundreds of violators were caught in the act, fined and their vehicles seized," said the official.

Bengaluru lockdown likely to stretch

The 21-day lockdown should continue after April 14 for at least two more weeks in coronavirus-hit hotspots like Bengaluru and Mysuru in Karnataka, said a panel of eminent doctors on Wednesday.

The panel, headed by eminent state doctors Devi Shetty, C.N. Manjunath, Nagaraj, Ravi and Sudarshan, was set up by the state government in March to assess the pandemic and measures to contain its spread across the southern state.

Buses, trains, metro rail and flights also should not be operated till April 30 to and from the hotspots to prevent movement of people," said the official.

On the panel's recommendations earlier, the state government had declared partial lockdown in Bengaluru for a week from March 14. It extended it on March 21 up to March 31 even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on March 24 night the 3-week lockdown from March 25 across the country and suspended transport services, including private vehicles to ensure the people stay home and break the virus chain.

The home minister Basavaraj Bommai and city police commissioner Bhaskar Rao later went around the city on the sly and caught many violators fined them heavily besides, seizing their vehicles on Wednesday.

There are already about 100 roads in the city converted into one-way to regulate the vehicular traffic and avoid gridlocks in a chocked, city with about 70,000 two-wheelers and 30,000 cars," the official pointed out.

Rao also advised the violators to walk up to the nearest provisions store to buy groceries and nearby shops for fruits and vegetables rather than coming out on vehicles and exposing to the virus. They can also buy online and get supplies delivered at home.

Karnataka Coronavirus cases

Earlier, nine contacts of previous corona positive cases turned positive among 10 new cases which surfaced in the last 19 hours, raising the total in Karnataka to 207, an official said on Friday.

"To date, 207 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. These include six deaths and 30 discharges," a health official said.

The 10 new cases surfaced between 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday noon.

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