Ghaziabad: No fresh cases, highrises want review of hotspot list

Ghaziabad: The residents of two highrises counted among hotspot areas, in a list of 14 so far in Ghaziabad, have demanded a review from the district administration

Ghaziabad: The residents of two highrises counted among hotspot areas, in a list of 14 so far in Ghaziabad, have demanded a review from the district administration and urged that the area be placed under the normal lockdown as no fresh Covid-19 cases have emerged in at least a week.

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The district magistrate assured that a review will be taken up soon.

The list of initial 13 hotspots in Ghaziabad include those at Nandgram near a mosque; KDP Grand Savanna, Raj Nagar Extension; Savoir Park society, Mohan Nagar; B-77/G-5, Shalimar Garden Extension 2; Pasonda; Oxy Home highrise, Bhopra; Vasundhara Sector 2B; Sector 6, Vaishali; Girnar Society, Kaushambi; Naipura, Loni; Masuri; Khatu Shyam Colony, Duhai and Covid-1 level hospital, Muradnagar.

Later, a highrise of Skardi Greens near NH-9 was also declared a hotspot.

From the KDP Grand Savanna, a 57-year-old man who had a travel history from Tehran had tested positive for Covid-19 on March 5 and was discharged from a hospital in Delhi on March 17 after his subsequent reports came negative. Later, his 27-year-old son tested positive and was admitted to the isolation ward at the MMG District Hospital on March 12. On March 20 he too was discharged after his test reports came negative.

“As of now, the highrise is still a listed hotspot area and arrangements have been made for door-to-door supply of essential items. Our highrise was sealed on the night of April 8. We had only two cases, which were from one family. Both had been sent after treatment and their 14 days’ home isolation cycle is also over. We have spoken to the district administration officials and they have told us that a declaration of hotspot area is to remain for 14 days. Besides the two cases, there have been no other positive cases in our highrise till date,” said RK Tyagi, president of the highrise’ apartment owners’ association.

There are about 900 families living in the society.

“If the administration still has any doubts, it should take up sampling. There has been no sampling of residents since the highrise was sealed. It was only on Tuesday that teams from the health department came here for a door-to-door survey. Even the order which has been put up at the highrise says that a review was to be taken up on April 13. Since no new cases have emerged, the administration should review our highrise and consider placing it under normal lockdown,” he added.

Ever since the first case emerged from the highrise, the health department has been engaged in rigorous sanitisation and has been monitoring and taking up surveillance activities in an area of about 5km radius around the highrise.

On the other hand, in the neighbouring Gautam Budh Nagar district, the authorities in a decision taken Wednesday removed four areas – two of which were under complete lockdown while two were under partial lockdown – from the list of hotspots.

“These areas have been removed from the list of hotspots as no new cases were reported in the past 28 days from the date of sampling,” Suhas LY, district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar had said.

While two localities in Gautam Budh Nagar -- Sector 41 and Lotus Espacia in Sector 100 -- were completely rid of hotspot tag, parts of sectors 30 and 78 were also removed.

According to officials, a doctor from Girnar highrise in Kaushambi, Ghaziabad had arrived from France on March 13 and developed symptoms on March 18, after which his sample was taken the next day. He was admitted to hospital in Delhi on March 22 and was discharged on April 4, said the health department.

The residents from Kaushambi said there has been no instance of any other case in Kaushambi Township and the administration must take a fresh review.

“We had a single case in Girnar highrise and no other cases have surfaced, despite the health department taking up effective surveillance and intensive sanitization drives in and around the highrise. Still, the highrise was declared a hotspot but it should now be placed under normal lockdown. The administration should now take a review. There are about 400 people living here,” said VK Mittal, president of Kaushambi Apartment RWA.

State surveillance officer Dr Vikasendu Agarwal said that declaring an area as a hotspot is under the purview of the administration.

“Sampling in such areas will go on. Generally, an area can be removed from the hotspot or sealing list once it completes 28 days after the last positive sample. The days varied from 14 to 28 depending on the number of cases which emerge. But continuing it or removing it from the list is an administrative decision,” he added.

Ghaziabad Chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta said that a review decision will be taken up on the basis of guidelines and the district magistrate will take a review.

“In Kaushambi and KDP highrise in Raj Nagar Extension, there have been no reports of any new case. So we will review them and try to remove these from the hotspot area list. But the decision rests with the district administration. From our point of view, Masuri and Savior Park are problematic areas due to positive patients and their contacts,” he added.

Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey, however, assured that a review will be taken up soon.

“We are considering the matter and will review the hotspot areas as well as the list. However, we are also ensuring that regular supply of essential items is maintained and residents do not face problems,” he added.

The Uttar Pradesh government had on April 8 announced an intensive lockdown of affected areas and identified 104 initial hotspots across the state, including 13 in Ghaziabad. Under the measure, the hotspot areas were to be subjected to extensive sanitisation, doorstep delivery and barricading of the entire area to restrict any movement outside houses.