The district magistrate on Thursday directed for deployment of 30 teams for the purpose of antigen testing, after Ghaziabad on Wednesday received the first set of 5,000 kits. The antigen kits have been provided to western Uttar Pradesh districts for speedy testing for the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease.
“The DM has directed for formation of 30 teams comprising lab technicians and has asked officials to scout for premises such as schools buildings where testing will be taken up, where a part of the area will be converted into a holding area from where patients will be transported to healthcare facilities after tests,” said Dr NK Gupta, the district’s chief medical officer (CMO).
With the help of these kits, the teams will be carrying out random sampling in containment zones and also target cases having symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI).
“If the patients are found positive, they will be asked to wait in the holding area and ambulances will arrive to take them to healthcare facilities. The teams will carry our testing in containment zones as well as of high risk patients, besides those affected by ILI and SARI symptoms,” the CMO added. The district currently has 297 containment zones.
According to officials, the Meerut division – which includes the districts of Noida and Ghaziabad – has been provided with 30,000 antigen testing kits.
{{/usCountry}}According to officials, the Meerut division – which includes the districts of Noida and Ghaziabad – has been provided with 30,000 antigen testing kits.
{{/usCountry}}Initially, five districts in eastern UP were given the antigen kits for testing purposes. The western UP districts have been given the antigen test kits in the second phase, by the state government.
Health department officials said teams deployed for antigen testing will be able to take up about 450-500 tests per day and will enhance daily testing capability up to 900-950 samples. At present, the health department takes up about 450 samples per day.
According to the Indian Council for Medical Research’s (ICMR) guidelines, suspected individuals who test negative for Covid-19 by rapid antigen test should be definitely tested subsequently by RT-PCR to rule out the infection, whereas a positive test should be considered true positive and does not need reconfirmation by RT-PCR test.
In the meantime, Ghaziabad DM Ajay Shankar Pandey also appointed six nodal officers who will keep in touch with residents who are receiving Covid treatment at various hospitals in Meerut, Noida and Delhi.
“These are patients who are residents of Ghaziabad but are taking treatment outside the district. Our officers will keep in touch with them and will ensure they do not face problems during treatment. Likewise, we have deployed magistrates who are in touch with patients getting treatment at our hospitals. We have also deployed nodal officers for keeping in touch with patients who are now receiving paid Covid-19 treatment in private hospitals in Ghaziabad,” Pandey said.
According to officials, there are about 16 Covid patients in Meerut, 27 in Noida district, 28 in Delhi, two in Aligarh and one in Lucknow, who are residents of Ghaziabad.
GHAZIABAD RECORDS 86 FRESH CASES IN 24 HRS, NO DEATHS
On Thursday, the tally of Covid-19 cases in the district stood at 1,175, as against the total of 1,089 till Wednesday. The figure of 1,175 was released by the state government’s Covid-19 control room, which also states that it included 551 patients who were discharged while 575 patients are still under treatment, besides 49 deaths so far in the district.
Going by these figures, the district on Thursday (figures till Wednesday) added 86 more cases to the tally of 1,089 and no deaths were reported.
In another direction on Thursday, district officials ordered that saloons/beauty parlours will also be allowed to open under Unlock 1.0.
“The shops will make use of sanitizers, face shields, gloves and disposable items while attending to customers. If such establishments make use of cloth, it should be used only once else they should be using disposable items. The establishments will be allowed to open as per previous directions related to opening markets in their respective areas,” additional district magistrate (city), Shailendra Singh, said in a statement.