Bengaluru, The City That Was Spared By COVID-19 Is Going Into A Complete Lockdown For A Week

How much difference can a month make in the life of a metro? To find the answer, look at the situation in Bengaluru in mid-June and now.

When all the other cities were struggling with the daily spike in COVID-19 cases there, Bengaluru stood out.

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Until June 15, Bengaluru Urban district had recorded just 725 COVID-19 cases, out of which only 362 were active. And the city was not even among the worst-hit in Karnataka, let alone in the country.

While other cities were going into total or partial lockdown, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa categorically said that there won't be another lockdown in the city.

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But from there everything went south for Bengaluru and the city started recording a sudden spike in the number of new daily infections. In early July, Bengaluru breached the 1,000 mark for the first time, for the number of cases reported in 24 hours.

As of Sunday morning, Bengaluru alone accounts for 16,862 of the 36,216 COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, and it is one of the handful of cities that have crossed the 10,000 mark.

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It should not have come as a total surprise as the city had started showing signs of an impending catastrophe in the third week of June and there was a partial lockdown.

The first person to raise an alarm was former CM HD Kumaraswamy, who demanded re-imposition of lockdown for a least 20 days and warned if not done "Bengaluru would be another Brazil."

Days later, the Karnataka government brought back the Sunday Lockdown with effect from July 5, and revised night curfew.

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But all these have proven too little, too late and on Saturday evening the government announced that Bengaluru will be under a complete lockdown from 14 to 22 July.

"Complete lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from 8 pm on 14th July to 5 am on 22nd July in view rising Covid-19 cases," stated Karnataka Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

However, essential services such as hospitals, grocery shops as well as scheduled exams will be allowed in the city.

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"Hospitals, groceries, fruit, vegetable and grocery shops will remain open and the medical and post-graduate exams scheduled will be held," the state government's release stated.

Unlike most of the cities, Bengaluru got 'extra time' due to the late surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, to prepare its medical infrastructure.

But the horror stories of patients waiting for an ambulance for hours and dying after they were turned away by hospitals that could not admit even critical patients, suggests that the government did not utilize the time it got.

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A 10,100 bed COVID-19 Care Centre, said to be the largest in the country at Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on Tumakuru Road, will only be ready by next week.