Four new Covid cases in Ghaziabad, high-rises sealed, travel to Delhi banned

After 12 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases came to light in Ghaziabad on Sunday, the district on Monday saw another round of four fresh cases whose reports arrived

After 12 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases came to light in Ghaziabad on Sunday, the district on Monday saw another round of four fresh cases whose reports arrived on Monday. The Ghaziabad district magistrate then issued an order late Monday night under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act and prohibited travel between Ghaziabad and Delhi.

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“The order has been issued as there are six infected persons in Ghaziabad who have travelled to Delhi for various reasons. So, in order to avoid more residents being infected that wayß, we have prohibited travel between Ghaziabad and Delhi with immediate effect. Only people involved in essential supplies or valid pass holders will be allowed to move. This order will be applicable for all our borders with Delhi,” Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate, said.

The health department officials said that the fresh cases are people who have attended religious congregations or are receiving treatment from hospitals in neighbouring cities. They added that one of the four cases found positive on Monday was a 41-year-old woman from the ATS Advantage high-rise who was being treated for cancer at a Delhi hospital, while the three other positive cases were people who had attended religious congregations in Kolkata.

“The four tested positive on Monday. One of the cases is a woman who is being treated for cancer. Our teams have sealed the tower of ATS Advantage where she lives. One tower of Niho Scottish high-rise, Indirapuram, was sealed on Monday after a Covid-19 positive case emerged on Sunday,” Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer, said.

“The other three positive cases on Monday are persons who had attended religious congregations in Kolkata. Presently, most cases are related to such instances as well as to treatment from medical facilities outside the district. Cases nowadays are not related to people with travel histories,” Dr Gupta added.

He added that three previous positive cases—two resident doctors of Max Hospital, Vaishali, and one male nurse (a resident of Oxy Home high-rise)—have now tested negative.

“Two consecutive test reports of the three are negative. The two doctors will be discharged soon; the nurse has already been discharged. His neighbours had opposed his return, but we intervened with the help of administration officials and allowed him entry to his flat,” Dr Gupta added.

On Monday afternoon, nurses and healthcare staff members of Sanjay Nagar staged a protest in a bid to get themselves quarantined in hotels.

“They were demanding that all of them should be allowed to stay at a hotel we have hired. But we made it clear to them that only those attending to Covid patients will be allowed to quarantine themselves after duty hours. Others will not be allowed,” Dr Naresh Vij, chief medical officer of Sanjay Nagar hospital, said.

Meanwhile, officials of the Uttar Pradesh government said that about 3,000 people who attended religious congregations have been identified in 20 districts of the state. Besides this, there are about 325 foreigners who also attended religious congregations. They added that 45 FIRs have been filed against them so far for violating visa conditions.

With the addition of four new cases, the tally of Covid-19 positive patients in Ghaziabad has risen to 46; and 13 of them have already been discharged. The district now has 14 hot spots; two areas—KDP Grand Savana, Raj Nagar Extension and Girnar Apartments, Kaushambi—were removed from the list of hot spots on Sunday.

Across the state, the total number of Covid-19 positive cases stood at 1,176, with 139 of them having been discharged from various hospitals, said officials of the UP health department. They added that the positive cases have affected 52 districts so far.

“There are eight districts in the state wherein there are no active cases left. But they have been told to continue monitoring and sanitising. We have also made arrangements for about 10,000 beds in isolation wards and 15,000 beds in quarantine wards so far. The L1 attached category hospitals to admit asymptomatic patients will also come up in every district. These are proposed to have 10,000 beds,” said Amit Mohan Prasad, UP’s principal secretary (health).

According to the latest age profile of the Covid-19 cases in UP, 19.39% are in the age group of 0-20 years, while the highest, 48.04%, are in the age group of 21-40 years. The officials said that 24.06% of cases are in the age group 41-60 years and only 8.5% of cases are in the age group of over 60 years.

“The number of cases in the age group of over 60 years was initially over 10% but these have now come down,” Prasad added.