Bengaluru, The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has designated one of its hospitals as a dedicated maternity hospital, following many pregnant women testing Covid positive at some point of time when they visited government hospitals for healthcare, an official said on Wednesday.

"It has come to our notice that many pregnant women (during ANC/Natal/PNC period) who are seeking healthcare at our hospitals as outpatient or inpatient report as Covid positive at some point of time," said a health official.

Once a carrying woman tests positive after visiting a hospital, the civic body or the government is compelled to shut it down temporarily for sanitisation, interrupting health services.

To address this concern, the BBMP has created a dedicated maternity hospital in Wilson Garden area of the city.

" Wilson Garden hospital (24 beds) to serve as a dedicated maternity hospital in Bengaluru to successfully treat the 'mother to be' in this Covid situation," said Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey.

He issued the orders on the directions he received from the civic body's Commissioner.

According to government guidelines, throat swab collection from pregnant women is happening 15 days before their expected date of delivery.

"Due to practical difficulties, either the swab collection is done late or report arrives later or the pregnant woman gets admitted at our hospital before the Covid status is known," said the official.

Though such cases are being handled by BBMP referral hospitals and maternity homes, the official said there is still a need to designate one hospital as a dedicated one for better compliance and to avoid simultaneous closure of hospitals for sanitisation.

Amid surging infections in Bengaluru, many pregnant women are seeking treatment in government or BBMP hospitals for safe confinement and delivery.

On Wednesday, Karnataka reported 2,062 Covid positive cases, more than half of which, 1,148, emanated from Bengaluru.

Overall, Bengaluru accounts for 10,103 out of the total 16,527 active cases in the state.