Domestic helps, waste collectors should be tested for Covid-19 on priority, demand residents’ bodies

NOIDA: Apartment owners associations (AOAs) and other social groups in the Gautam Budh Nagar district on Monday demanded that all domestic helps working in residential

NOIDA: Apartment owners associations (AOAs) and other social groups in the Gautam Budh Nagar district on Monday demanded that all domestic helps working in residential sectors and housing societies should undergo Covid-19 tests on priority to prevent the spread of infection. The demand comes after seven domestic helps working in an upscale housing society in Noida recently tested positive for the infection.

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The residents’ bodies said that waste collectors and sanitation workers should also be tested for coronavirus as they are more vulnerable to the infection.

“There is a dire need that all waste collectors and domestic helps should be tested so that they can be identified early and get adequate treatment on time. We got the test of 235 suspects done at our society camp on Saturday, of which seven domestic helps working in our society have tested positive,” said PVS Prakash, president of Grand Omaxe apartment owners association.

Rajiva Singh, president of Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Associations, said that the federation has written to the district administration in this regard.

“We have demanded that the administration should test all the waste collectors and domestic helps so that they can be identified and provided with the treatment on time. They are more prone to the risk of infection. At our society camp, a waste collector tested positive out of 75 who underwent the test. We also request that if a waste collector/domestic help is found positive, he/she should be treated with dignity,” said Singh, who is a resident of King’s Court, Sector 50.

There are about 150 residential sectors and 1,200 housing societies in the district, where thousands of domestic helps work. Also, at least 5,000 sanitation workers are engaged in waste collection, transportation and sweeping job.

“We have been demanding that all sanitation employees should be tested at camps because they can become a carrier easily due to nature of their job,” said NP Singh, president of GB Nagar District Development Residents Welfare Associations (DDRWA).

District officials said that they have been organising testing camps at housing societies, sectors, and villages to detect cases. “We have asked various residents’ bodies to come forward to help us organise camps and get all suspected tested properly. Our motive is to test everyone who is suspected and then start treatment of those who are found positive,” said Narendra Bhooshan, nodal officer for Covid-19 preparations in the district.