BBMP on guard, leaving nothing to chance

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Close on the heels of a person from South Africa who landed at KIAL, Bengaluru, testing positive for Omicron Covid -19 variant , the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday heightened vigil across the city and has intensified checking of international passengers arriving at Bengaluru Airport.

BBMP Chief Medical Officer Dr.K.V.Trilok Chandra speaking exclusively to News Trail after the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry made public that two people from Karnataka, tested positive for Omicron, said that health officials subjected over 200 primary and secondary contacts of the two Omicron positive patients, to tests. The BBMP has been successful in tracking of all primary and secondary contacts within the shortest time and getting them tested, he said. He confirmed that while one Omicron patient has returned to South Africa via Dubai, another has been under institutional quara n t i n e and he is said to be alright. According to doctors, he had only mild symptoms and has been discharged. As per the standard protocol, the identity of both patients and details of their visit in Bengaluru City would not be made public. The institutional quarantined person would undergo another round of tests after a week or so as per the recommendations of the medical experts.

Dr Trilok Chandra said more staff have been deployed on the strict implementation of Covid Appropriate Behavior within the BBMP limits. All international passengers are subjected to strict checking at the KIAL and those who test positive would be sent to home quarantine. Their samples would be sent to the ICMR laboratories to further test for the new variant. Tracing, tracking and testing have been given top priority, he added.