My Home Avatar at Narsingi emerges as COVID-19 hotspot; reports 100 cases in 10 days

The community houses around 7,000 residents in around 1,800 apartments. As per the residents around 75 families have been affected by COVID-19 in the last 10 days. "Since January, we started seeing cases here once in a while. But in the last 10 days, every day we are seeing at least five cases on an average and this started from the last week of March when we started reporting one or two cases," said a resident under the condition of anonymity.

As the community is large and without any centralized restrictions from the government or another competent authority, people in the community are moving freely. "We are taking all the measures, but cases are increasing as there are no restrictions. People go anywhere and everywhere. People from the outside too such as maids, delivery guys come and go as per their work," said the resident.

The residents started moving into the community in the beginning of 2019 when it was built. Around 700 apartments are still vacant. My Home Group, the realtor who built the community, still manages the community. "We don't have any resident welfare association as of yet. Orion service provider hired by the My Home Group provides services," said another resident.

Orion provides services in case someone tests positive. They sanitize the floor of the apartments and bring grocery, medicines, and other important items for the patients. They regularly check the temperature of the COVID-positive persons and also enforce the COVID-19 guidelines in the community. "We as a community are also trying to helping out those families. We cook homemade food for them and deliver it directly to their apartments," said a resident.

However, the residents are saying that with no restriction in place people are utilizing many of the common facilities of the community. "There is only one central park which is closed. The sports areas are open for everyone," said the residents.

The residents added that even though they are helping each other due to communication gap among them many people are coming in contact with COVID-positive persons. "The response to the situation is a bit late due to the communication gap. In the meantime, many of the residents cross paths with COVID-19 persons," said another resident.