BBMP initiate Covid-19 testing as city colleges resume

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As the colleges in the city commenced with the offline classes, the civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) initiated the Covid-19 testing of around 15 per cent of the students, teaching and non-teaching staff from the 360 colleges in the city.

As many as 222 testing teams were deployed who tested 11,574 individuals among the total student, teacher and staff count of 75,163. From the testing, two were found to be Covid-19 positive.

BBMP Commissioner, Manjunath Prasad revealed to Deccan Herald, “Most of the colleges did not open or students opted for offline classes. We have not only mapped primary health centres to colleges but also offered to deploy mobile testing teams on campus if required. But out of 468 teams, only 222 were deployed today because of the low turnout.”

“There were 666 people on the field at colleges. As per feedback from our medical officers, there is not much demand. There is absolutely no shortage of testing teams. It is also possible that some students and staff got tested in the three days prior to the date of joining as the state government had already informed them that a negative certificate is mandatory,” said Rajendra Cholan, the BBMP nodal official in-charge of Covid-19 testing.  

The two Covid-19 positive individuals were among the 300 subjected to testing in Govindarajanagar based in the West Zone, where two teams were conducting the testing for students and teaching staff of nine colleges directed towards AD Halli health centre.

The testing was done free of cost. BBMP Assistant Commissioner for Education, Nagendra Nayak stated, “At four BBMP first-grade degree colleges on Magadi Road, Kasturba Nagar, Cleveland Town and Byraveshwara Nagar, classes will be held from Thursday because on Tuesday and Wednesday, we hope to finish testing 354 final-year degree students, 49 PG students and 54 lecturers. Some BBMP college lecturers had also visited the primary health centre mapped to their respective colleges on Monday itself to get tested.”

Majority of the testing was conducted in the West Zone, which covered 3,430 people from 51 colleges. In Dasarhalli, 65 people were tested from 21 institutions, 751 people from 9 colleges in Bommanahalli, from 31 colleges in Mahadevapura 150 were tested, 3,303 from the colleges in the East Zone and from 74 colleges in the South Zone, 1514 students and staff were tested.

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