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10 more positive cases reported in Ghaziabad, 10 Indonesian nationals held in Sahibabad
The officials of the Ghaziabad health department Saturday said they have 10 new cases of Covid-19 since Friday evening. The officials said the sudden spurt is attributed
The officials of the Ghaziabad health department Saturday said they have 10 new cases of Covid-19 since Friday evening. The officials said the sudden spurt is attributed to people who attended various religious congregations, including the one in Delhi’s Nizamuddin.
Officials said they had a list of 13 positive cases till Friday evening and the number rose to 23 by Saturday evening. The 10 new additions include a 25-year-old woman from Vasundhara whose sister is an employee of Noida-based company – Ceasefire.
“The nine other Covid-19 patients are those who attended various religious congregations. The positive patients are from across Ghaziabad, from areas such as Masuri, Loni, Muradnagar etc. Of the 23, we now have 13 Covid-19 patients who have surfaced in past few days after health officials and police launched a search. All these people were picked up after the spurt in cases reported from Nizamuddin in Delhi,” Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer, said.
The 29-year-old sister of the 25-year-old woman has also tested positive. The patient’s sister used to share her car with another 30-year-old employee of Ceasefire and he is also positive for Covid-19, health officials said.
“Of the 23 patients so far, the father-son duo from Raj Nagar Extension has already been discharged from the hospital after treatment, as well as another patient, a doctor from Kaushambi who returned from France,” the CMO said.
On Friday night, the health department officials also sealed a three-kilometre area in Masuri after several patients were found positive there after returning from attending various religious congregations. The officials also sent their family members to different isolation and quarantine facilities.
Overall, in Uttar Pradesh, there has been a sudden spike in the number of Covid-19 cases and UP officials said that this is largely due to members of Tablighi Jamaat who have returned from Nizamuddin after attending a congregation there in March.
On Saturday evening, the Sahibabad police also picked up 10 Indonesian nationals who had arrived in Ghaziabad for attending religious congregations and were living in a mosque, a madarsa and the house of a resident in Shaheed Nagar locality.
“Five of the 10 are women. They also have their passports with them while some have deposited their passports at the Jamaat’s office in Delhi. All 10 have been sent to a quarantine facility. A case will soon be registered against them and also the caretakers of the mosque, madarsa and the private individual who provided them shelter and did not disclose their information,” Rakesh Mishra, circle officer (Sahibabad), said.
The Uttar Pradesh government officials have already said the passports of such persons will be seized as they are in India on tourist visas and not allowed to attend religious events or take part in missionary work.
Till Saturday evening, 306 such foreigners were identified across Uttar Pradesh and passports of 228 were seized besides 36 FIRs being lodged against them under the Foreigners’ Act, Epidemic Act and Disaster Management Act, the officials of the Uttar Pradesh government said.
Dr Gupta also said that there was information about a Covid-19 positive patient from Shipra Sun City, Indirapuram.
“When our teams went there, he was found to be admitted to a private hospital in Delhi and his family could not produce any confirmatory report. So we have not included him in the list of positive cases, which came to light on Saturday. However, containment exercise has been taken up at Shipra Sun City,” he said.
“People who are yet to make self-disclosures about their travel to foreign countries, other states and to religious congregations, should do so by 5pm on April 5. If they fail to do so and are traced by the health department or police, FIRs will be lodged against them,” Dr Gupta said.
