Improved recovery rate reduces sealed area count in Ghaziabad

With the recovery rate in the district improving, active cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Ghaziabad are coming down steadily with none of the 275 hotspots

With the recovery rate in the district improving, active cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Ghaziabad are coming down steadily with none of the 275 hotspots having double-digit infections anymore, said officials.

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According to the latest list released by the administration on July 27, the district has 89 category-1 containment zones having at least one Covid-19 case, while there are 186 category-2 containment zones with multiple cases. In less than ten days, the number of total containment zones has also reduced by 42, as per the administration’s data.

“With the rate at which we are discharging patients now, our recovery rate is better, and active cases in containment zones are on the decline. Currently, there is no containment zone which has more than nine cases or any zone with active cases in double digits. This has been achieved through the faster discharge of patients.” a senior official from the district health department, who wish not to be named, said.

According to a list released on July 19, the district had at least 21 hotspots with 10 or more active cases out of the total 317 containment zones. These 21 hotspots included areas in Brij Vihar, Raj Nagar Extension, Lajpat Nagar, sector-4 at Vaishali, Nandgram, Shipra Sun City (Indirapuram), Ahimsa Khand-1 at Indirapuram, Nyay Khand in Indirapuram, Arthala, Chiranjeev Vihar and Gyan Khand-1 in Indirapuram among others.

According to data by the health department, a total of 1,045 patients have been discharged between July 19—when the active cases were 1,322— and July 27 which has reduced the burden of active cases in containment zones.

The Ghaziabad district, till July 27, had reported a total of 4,639 total cases including 947 active cases. With 3,628 total recoveries, the recovery rate stood at 78.2%—an improvement from the recovery rate of 64.93% on July 19 till when 2,583 people were discharged out to total 3,978 cases. Till June 30, the recovery rate was a mere 45.69% with 738 patients discharged out of 1,615 cases.

“After July 19, the number of active cases is on the decline and at present (Tuesday) we have less than 800 active cases as per the state portal. We are planning to bring down the number of active cases further with the help of the revised discharge policy. Reduction in the number active cases will help us reduce the number containment zone which will benefit residents who face restrictions because of sealing” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate.

According to the revised discharge guidelines issued by the state government on July 21, asymptomtic patients in home isolation will be considered as recovered if they do not show any symptoms in 10 days. Mild category patients will be discharged after a follow up test on eighth day (of the first sample, under any of the three conditions – tenth day of the first sample, tenth day of the symptoms or if such patients remain without fever for three consecutive days.

On Tuesday, the recovery rate further improved to 81.96% with total 3,859 recoveries out of 4,708 total cases (after deleting duplicate entries and cross-notification of patients).

“There have been areas like Khoda, Vaishali, and Loni where we had taken up strict containment exercises and now the number of active cases there have reduced. Dealing with containment zones is one of our priority areas in fight against Covid-19,” he added.

The latest list released by the district administration includes 244 zones having anything between one to five cases, while the rest zones of 31 zones have cases between six to nine.

There are five zones which have nine number of active cases. The areas are Shalimar Garden Extension, Mata Colony at Vijay Nagar, Patel Ngar-2 and Janakpuri in Sahibabad and sector-12 at Vijay Nagar. Besides these, there are only two zones of Nandgram and Sihani having eight cases, while there are 11 zones having seven cases each. These include areas of Chiranjeev Vihar, Shastri Nagar, sector-2 at Vaishali and Khoda among others.

“We are taking up containment exercises, sanitisation drives and also focussing on increased testing in category-2 zones. This is helping us identify positive cases and referring them for treatment,” the officer quoted above said. According to the official figures, till July 27, the district had tested 90,879 samples.

“The size of the new containment zones have also been reduced,” the health department official said. As per an order issued by RK Tiwari, UP chief secretary, on July 24, the boundary of containment zones areas has been reduced by half. Areas within the 100-metre radius of a category-1 containment zone in city areas will be sealed now as compared to areas within a 250-meter radius. The boundary of category-2 containment zones (multiple cases) has also been redefined and the earlier 500-metre range has been reduced to 200 metre.