Workplaces in Bengaluru are also seeing a reduced number of employees with many working from home.
Representational Imag
With five positive cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) reported from Bengaluru, some apartment residents of Bellandur, Whitefield and other adjoining areas have voluntarily started avoiding large social gatherings. They are also avoiding taking children to parks. As a result, many residents living along the IT corridor whom TNM spoke to said that there has been a drastic reduction in traffic snarls in the otherwise clogged Outer Ring Road and the Old Airport Road. IIndranil Roy Choudhury, an IT professional who lives in Bellandur at Suncity apartment complex, that has more than 500 flats, said that although there is no official advisory, there has been a dip in social gatherings. “Inside our apartment complex, there was a get-together planned last week, which was cancelled. Even for Holi, in other years, a lot more children play in the common areas but this year, the number was significantly lower,” he said. “Even the Montessori school that my five-year-old daughter goes to has decided to cancel their school-leaving ceremony. So instead of a big event that was planned, now they are calling the children and parents in smaller groups at specified time slots. Similarly, for my elder daughter who is in Class 4, while the exams have been cancelled, the book distribution is being done in smaller groups,” Indranil added. Three of the five people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Bengaluru are from Whitefield. The first is an IT professional working at Dell who returned from the US via Dubai. His wife and daughter who came in contact with him were also infected. Incidentally, a Hyderabad-native who tested positive had also stayed in a Sarjapur Road apartment and health department officials have carried out surveillance activity in the locality. Many IT employees are also working from home as a precautionary measure. Sankha Shuvra Ghosal, a resident of Marathalli and who works in a business analytics firm in Ecoworld, said, “The road is unusually empty and we are being given VPN (virtual private network) connections so that we can work from home in the coming days.” Already, schools across Karnataka are shut for students upto Class 5. Since the beginning of the outbreak, WHO and other health advisory bodies have suggested that people improve their general hygiene practices and avoid large gatherings. Whitefield Rising, a citizens’ collective, has prepared an advisory in which they have asked people to avoid large gatherings be it holi celebrations, weddings, concerts, religious functions etc. On March 5, Rajender Kumar, the Under Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department had passed an official memorandum to the same effect. The directive said that there is a need for everybody to be part of the exercise to contain the spread of the virus. Whitefield Rising has also compiled a detailed list of general hygiene practices and also cited a World Health Organisation video on when and how to wear a mask. It warns people not to touch their face and practice maintaining a distance of at least three feet to prevent the spread of the disease. It further suggests that people who have returned from foreign countries should voluntarily approach the health authority and follow the laid out protocol and maintain a list of people they got in touch with. Bangalore Apartment Federation, an umbrella body of more than 500+ apartments across the city and 80 apartment complexes (20,000 households) as members have also issued an advisory. They have asked members to print and paste government posters within the apartment premises. Other than this, they have asked people to call the government helpline. Incidentally, the WHO on Wednesday evening had also categorised the ongoing outbreak as a pandemic. Till date, worldwide, there have been more than 4,200 deaths and there have been positive cases in 114 countries after it had spread from the Wuhan in China.
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