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Coronavirus: Uttar Pradesh health minister Atul Garg in home isolation in Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad: Atul Garg, the Uttar Pradesh minister of state (MoS) for medical, health & family welfare, has taken home isolation after he allegedly came in contact
Ghaziabad: Atul Garg, the Uttar Pradesh minister of state (MoS) for medical, health & family welfare, has taken home isolation after he allegedly came in contact with UP health minister Jay Pratap Singh. The latter had attended a private party in Lucknow on March 14 where Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor, who turned out positive for the Covid-19 disease on Friday, was also present.
“I have taken to home isolation as I had come in contact with our state health minister during an official meeting in Lucknow on March 17. I have also given samples for testing and am not going out of my home. I came to know Saturday that the test report of the state health minister has turned out negative. However, I will remain in home isolation until my reports come through,” said Garg, who is also an MLA from Ghaziabad.
The district’s chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta confirmed that samples of Garg were taken Saturday morning and sent for testing.
Meanwhile, the number of suspected Sars-Cov-2 patients in Ghaziabad went up Saturday, with eight new suspected cases admitted to isolation wards in the district — seven at the MMG District Hospital and one at Sanjay Nagar Combined District Hospital.
“Seven persons were admitted to the 10 bed isolation ward on Saturday. This new isolation ward has been prepared for admitting only suspected cases of Sars-Cov-2. Samples of all seven have been sent for testing. Those admitted have symptoms as well as travel history abroad, including London, Finland, Saudi Arabia and Kenya, among others,” said Dr Ravinder Rana, chief medical superintendent of MMG Hospital.
“We have another 10 bed isolation ward at MMG hospital reserved for admitting only confirmed cases of Sars-Cov-2. The number of suspected cases rose on Saturday. We also had a suspected case of a person who had recently returned from London and had come to the hospital on Saturday for testing. After his samples were taken, however, he fled the hospital,” Dr Rana added.
The CMO confirmed this and said due legal action will be taken against the suspected case who fled.
Additionally, one confirmed case was admitted to the isolation ward of Sanjay Nagar Hospital on Saturday. With this, the total number of suspected cases admitted to the isolation ward at Sanjay Nagar Hospital became five. Four of these were admitted on Friday.
