Bengaluru Urban district reported 1,235 positive cases on Sunday, with contacts of most cases classified as still “under tracing”. Contact-tracing has turned out to be a massive challenge as the city is adding about 1,000 cases a day, which is expected to go up further in the coming days.
BENGALURU: The BJP’s youth wing in Karnataka will help the authorities in contact-tracing of Covid-19 positive patients in Bengaluru following a rapid increase in cases over the last 10 days, as civic body BBMP falls short of volunteers to trace primary and secondary contacts of infected individuals.
“Our problems have got worse after many trained volunteers stopped coming fearing they will contract the infection,” a state minister, who did not wish to be identified, told ET.
Bengaluru Urban district reported 1,235 positive cases on Sunday, with contacts of most cases classified as still “under tracing”. Contact-tracing has turned out to be a massive challenge as the city is adding about 1,000 cases a day, which is expected to go up further in the coming days.
Karnataka state BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel has asked the party’s Yuva Morcha leaders to go ahead with the plan.
“The Prime Minister is aware of the activities of party workers in supplying food kits, medicines and masks across the state,” he had told reporters a few days ago.
State BJP Yuva Morcha general secretary BY Vijayendra told ET that the party had “already held meetings, and plan to start next week.”
“As a political party, we have a responsibility towards society. The government machinery alone cannot handle a crisis of this magnitude. Party workers should also get involved as there won’t be enough volunteers to tackle this kind of a challenge,” he said.
The youth wing is aiming to draft 10 volunteers in the 25-35 age group in each of the 198 BBMP wards to begin with, and progressively take it to 25 volunteers per ward.
The BBMP on its part has offered to train the BJP workers in contact-tracing and other related campaign activities.
The party volunteers will not only involve themselves with contact-tracing but also follow up with labs and health authorities about the swab samples collected.
The party is asking volunteers to visit the homes of primary and secondary contacts, provide masks and sanitisers and help create awareness. “We have already identified 1,200 volunteers. Things will take final shape in about four-five days. They will go to the field after completing training,” Vijayendra added.
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