Despite its 1.2 crore population, Bengaluru city has had just 385 reported cases of COVID-19 infections. While the other cities are still struggling to contain the spread, Bengaluru has made some very smart choices. 

The city, which declared a lockdown 11 days before the nationwide lockdown began, was quick to react to the pandemic and it worked in its favour. The schools were shut down on March 13 and the bars, restaurants, malls, theatres and other public places followed suit on March 14. 

The state and the capital city followed an efficient method of the three Ts – trace, test and treat.

The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) effectively shut down any entry and exit points of a contaminated area with even a single positive case, except for emergency services. This was followed by separate teams tracking down anyone who has been in direct or secondary contact with the patient, all of whom were immediately quarantined. 

The most important and third step the city took was random testing of the area where the positive case was found. This is what makes the state’s test positivity rate (the number of positive cases per 100 tests conducted) 1 per cent, much lower than the national average of 5. 

Apart from this, the fact that the state government left all decisions related to the pandemic with the experts makes a huge different. The driving force behind this battle in Karnataka was the Technical Advisory Committee (health department). 

Now, the city is looking forward to opening up its malls, pubs, restaurants, and places of worship on June 8. While this doesn’t include the city’s 36 containment zones, which will remain under lockdown until June 30, the situation is much better than the rest of the major cities in India.