Gautam Budh Nagar reports 70 new Covid-19 cases

Gautam Budh Nagar on Saturday reported 70 new Covid-19 cases that included 14 children, taking the active case load in the district to 218

Gautam Budh Nagar on Saturday reported 70 new Covid-19 cases that included 14 children, taking the active case load in the district to 218. District health department officials said that there are no hospitalisations among the infected children and 80% of the total cases are under home isolation.

On April 14, the chief medical office sent 64 samples for genome sequencing to the National Centre for Disease Control and the reports are still awaited. (Sunil Ghosh/ HT)

Since April 9, Gautam Budh Nagar has reported 237 cases out of which 58 are children. On Saturday, eight patients recovered from the virus. The total cases in the district since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic has touched 98,902.

Officials added that most of the new cases have been found after contact-tracing and are under home isolation.

“There were two Covid-19 positive children who were hospitalised five days back due to high-grade fever but they were discharged within two days as their condition became stable. Currently, none of the infected children are under hospitalisation,” said Dr Manoj Kushwaha, district surveillance officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.

Dr Kushwaha added that among the adults, six patients are under hospitalisation at present. “Two of the six patients have high-grade fever due to which they are admitted in hospitals, while four others suffer from comorbidities due to which hospitalisation has been necessitated as a precautionary measure,” he added.

On April 14, the chief medical office sent 64 samples for genome sequencing to the National Centre for Disease Control and the reports are still awaited.

More vaccination centres open up in Noida

The Gautam Budh Nagar district health department on Saturday increased its Covid-19 vaccination centres (CVCs) to 127. Till Friday, there were 40 CVCs across the district.

Officials said Corbevax (the vaccine for the 12-15 year age-group) is available at over 120 centres.

“Government CVCs have been opened at community centres, government schools as well as private schools across the district. These 127 CVCs will operate on a regular basis and our target is to vaccinate almost 10,000 people in a day. All CVCs in schools are stocked with the Corbevax vaccine, which is meant for kids in the 12-15 age-group so that their vaccination coverage can be increased,” said Dr Sunil Dohare, district immunisation officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.

The Uttar Pradesh state health department has given Gautam Budh Nagar a target to vaccinate 69,814 children in the 12-15 age-group, said officials. According to the CoWin portal, 34,425 children in the same age-group have already been vaccinated so far, while 155,489 have been vaccinated in the 15-18 age-group.

Sources said that booster shots (precautionary doses) are not yet being administered at government CVCs for the 18+ population and are only being given to the 60+ beneficiaries, healthcare workers and frontline workers.

“The government has only allowed private CVCs to administer booster shots among the 18+ population,” added Dr Dohare.

Meanwhile, the Noida Federation of Apartment Owners’ Association (NOFAA) has organised a booster shot camp for residents of the city in Sector 50 on Sunday, with the help of a private hospital.

“The camp has been organised at Stellar Kings Court apartments in Sector 50 where we are expecting at least 100 beneficiaries to get the booster shot. With cases on the rise once again, it is imperative residents are vaccinated with both the doses, followed by a booster shot to restrict the spread of infection. The precautionary dose can be administered after nine months of the second dose,” said Rajiva Singh, president, NOFAA, adding that similar camps will be held at more societies soon.