After Delhi and Mumbai, is Bengaluru the next coronavirus hotspot in India?

The trend of Covid-19 cases in India has seen a new upwards spike, with several metropolitan cities reporting a surge in infections for the past week. Amid this, the speculations of the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hitting India are increasing.

Observing the last three waves of the pandemic, the most number of cases have been recorded in Maharashtra’s Mumbai and Delhi, among other cities. This time, it is likely that Karnataka’s Bengaluru is emerging as the new Covid-19 hotspot in India.

The number of coronavirus cases is spiking rapidly in Bengaluru, with over 600 coronavirus cases in the state for now. The Karnataka government has also issued an advisory in view of the rising cases of the virus in the state in the past few days.

Further, many instances of Covid-19 cases being detected in educational institutes in Bengaluru have also been observed. Most recently, 31 students tested positive for coronavirus in an institute, with the positivity rate in the city going up from 2.69 percent to 2.83 percent. 

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has also issued a set of guidelines for educational institutes to make sure that the city does not become a hotspot for more infections. All schools and institutes must strictly adhere to the advisory, said the BBMP.

As per the guidelines, all teachers, parents, and students entering the school premises must wear a mask at all times and maintain social distancing. All schools have been asked to make sure that their staff is vaccinated, and usage of sanitizers should be promoted.

In the Covid-19 advisory for schools, the BBMP wrote, “The school should make sure that all its staff is vaccinated and if there is any eligible member who is not vaccinated, arrange for them to be vaccinated.”

In the three Covid-19 waves recorded in India, several metro cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru had registered a high number of cases. With new variants of the virus on the radar of health experts, Indian authorities are working towards avoiding a 4^th wave of the pandemic.

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