NOIDA:
Disinfecting densely populated slum clusters, which have emerged as Covid-19 hot spot in the city, is posing a big challenge for the Noida authority.
On Friday, 11 Covid-19 cases were reported from Noida slums, spread chiefly across sectors 5 and 8 with its peripheries also touching sectors 10, 9 and 4. On April 7, the slums had reported the first positive case, and since then 15 persons have tested positive for Coronavirus.
Since April 8, officials have shifted around 400 persons from slums in sectors 5 and 8 to government quarantine centres as a precautionary measure after four persons — one of whom was linked to fire safety solutions firm Ceasefire — tested positive for Covid-19 in Sector 5 JJ Colony.
Noida authority officials said that their staff are facing more problems in disinfecting slum areas as compared to group housing complexes or plotted houses in the city. In group housing complexes where Covid-19 positive cases were reported, the authority disinfected common areas such as lifts, lobby, clubs, parks and grocery stores without any major hindrances.
“But in slum clusters, there are narrow lanes and small houses which are not easily accessible. Our staff have disinfected all the houses, which are located near the patients’ addresses,” said SC Mishra, senior project engineer of the Noida authority heading the health department.
On Saturday, the authority deployed 70 staff members who wore PPE kits and then carried out the disinfection drive led by the Gautam Budh Nagar chief medical officer, the officials said, adding that in group housings they did not need health officials.
{{/usCountry}}On Saturday, the authority deployed 70 staff members who wore PPE kits and then carried out the disinfection drive led by the Gautam Budh Nagar chief medical officer, the officials said, adding that in group housings they did not need health officials.
{{/usCountry}}“As we need to ensure that the spread is contained properly, we did take all laid down precautions. We are disinfecting all villages, sectors and other premises twice in a week. Soon, we will carry out a special drive in slums. Drones are being used for disinfection in slums. Our objective is to disinfect surface, air and houses properly,” said Mishra.
The authority is tasked to carry out disinfection drive in each nook and corner of slums because the suspected patients might have visited many places nearby which cannot be identified easily, unlike positive cases in group housing or plotted areas, said the officials.
“We are carrying out intense house-to-house sanitisation in Covid-affected clusters in sectors 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10,” said Ritu Maheshwari, chief executive officer of Noida authority.