Coronavirus: Bescom helpline sealed after 8 staff test positive in Bengaluru
Karnataka reported the highest single-day spike with over 4,500 coronavirus cases with Bengaluru recording 2,125 cases
FollowBengaluru: According to a report on a popular website, the helpline wing of Bescom was sealed on Saturday (July 18) after eight employees of the helpline (1912) tested positive for COVID-19. The helpline building will be sealed down for the next 48-hours.
In a statement, Bescom appealed to the citizens to call its personnel directly in case of any queries related to the electricity supply. The contact details of officials have been published on www.bescom.karnataka.gov.in.
As the Bescom helpline was also as a helpline for bed availability to COVID-19 patients, Bescom has appealed to the citizens to Whatsapp on 9480812450 or email queries to 1912covidhelpline@gmail.com for COVID-related queries. The helpline's sudden closure on Saturday caused inconvenience to the public.
Meanwhile, for the first time, Karnataka recorded over 4,500 COVID-19 cases in a single day (4,537) and 93 deaths.
Though Bengaluru recorded 2,125, the big jump in caseload was due to non-Bengaluru districts like Dakshina Kannada, which became the second district to report 509 positive cases in a single day, followed by Dharwad-186, Vijayapura-176, Ballari-155, Belagavi-137, Uttara Kannada-116, Shivamogga-114, Udupi-109 and Mysuru-101.
With 59,652 cases, Karnataka is now at the fourth position in the country in terms of cases, fifth in number of deaths (1,240) and eighth in terms of recoveries (21,776).
As antigen tests have begun in the state, of 9,315 tests, 7,684 are negative.
In the city, Shanthala Nagar continued to be the worst-affected with 100 cases, followed by Suddaguntepalya-33, Chamarajpet-27, Kumaraswamy layout and Malleswaram-24. Containment zones in the city have now gone up to 8,785 out of which 6,160 are active.
