Bengaluru in safe zone now. What next?

For the first time on May 28, the number of vacant (available) hospital beds in Bengaluru city exceeded the number of occupied ones.

Sunday May 30, 2021 , 4 min Read

For the first time on May 28, the number of vacant (available) hospital beds in Bengaluru city exceeded the number of occupied ones. Additionally, the demand for beds is falling and so is the demand for crematoria, Gaurav Gupta, Commissioner, BBMP tells YourStory in an exclusive interaction.

For Gaurav and his team, there is zero margin for error amid India’s raging second COVID-19 wave.

From setting up COVID care centres, ambulances services, and building systems to ensuring the availability of beds — there now appears to be some respite for people on the ground in Bengaluru. Across the country too, cases have been declining with India now recording 2.1 lakh cases versus 4 lakh a day, the peak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BBMP Commissioner says, "We are in a safe zone now, and in the future, would have to (relentlessly) insist on vaccinations.”

The vaccination drive, which started on March 1, is on track, with over 23.53 lakh doses administered to date. With 140+ primary health centres and private hospitals, there are more than 500 centres where vaccinations are in progress.

According to Gaurav, the number of recoveries and discharges has now increased while positive cases have decreased. “It shows a healthy trajectory, but to keep on this path we need active support from people. It is more important now that people follow COVID-appropriate behaviour and ensure their family and friends also do,” he says.

Read all about how the Indian startup ecosystem is battling the second wave of COVID-19 here.

Here are some useful tools to help you find the nearest vaccine centres in real-time.

You can also share a tribute to COVID-19 warriors, saviours, and survivors here.

The Interview

For a democracy to function efficiently, it is important for governments to take the opinions and suggestions of the citizens. To achieve that, MyGov uses social media to communicate the decisions of the government and take the inputs from the citizens.

CEO Abhishek Singh shares how India’s flagship citizen engagement platform is empowering citizens to participate actively in governance. He also shares why the need for citizen participation intensified during the pandemic.

Editor’s Pick: Prime Venture Partners podcast

Julie Zhuo, a Stanford graduate, worked her way up — from an engineering intern to Vice President of Product Design at Facebook.

Today, she is amongst Silicon Valley’s top product design executives, authored Wall Street Journal best-selling book, The Making of a Manager, and co-founded Sundial.

In the latest episode of the Prime Venture Partners podcast, Julie talks about lessons learned through her journey, and how a great product is built and designed. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

The June Shop disrupting the impulse-buying category online

Who hasn’t stood in line at the supermarket checkout counter and tossed a few “not needed but too good to pass up” things into their cart?

Best friends Rishav Nahata and Pranav Jain decided to tap the spur-of-the-moment buying market with the ecommerce platform The June Shop, launched in 2019. Read more.

News & Updates

The single-day rise in coronavirus cases was recorded at 1,73,790 — the lowest in the last 45 days — taking India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,77,29,247, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL) — a Hyderabad-based facility under the National Dairy Development Board — announced to produce drug substance meant for Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin from June 15.

Global biogas player Sistema.bio, in collaboration with Shell Foundation, has rolled out a financial assistance package of Rs 2 million, which will cover the initial cost of treatment for its customers and employees affected by COVID-19.