Noida has zero active cases for the first time since pandemic began

The last new case was reported on Sunday, district health officials said. On Tuesday, there were no new cases and all previous patients had recovered, including those in home isolation

For the first time since the pandemic began three years ago, Gautam Budh Nagar district on Tuesday had zero Covid cases.

A health worker collects a swab sample for Covid-19 test at the District Hospital in Sector 30 in Noida on December 31. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

A total of 110,547 cases have been reported in the district so far and the last new case was reported on Sunday, district health officials said. On Tuesday, there were no new cases and all previous patients had recovered, including those in home isolation. This has happened for the first time since the pandemic started in the district.

While the health department is preparing to handle any increase in cases, officials said having no active cases for the first time is a positive development for the district.

Throughout 2022, the district always had at least one active case. A comparative analysis of cases since Covid started in early 2020 shows that the number of cases has only increased over the years, the maximum cases having been reported in 2022.

The district saw 24,974 cases in 2020, 38,770 cases in 2021 and 46,790 cases in 2022. A total of 110,547 cases have been reported since the pandemic began and 13 cases were added this year so far.

Additionally, 491 fatalities have been reported in the district. The last death was reported on June 22, 2022. The victim was a 28-year-old man who was immuno compromised, according to health officials.

Officials say no substantial increase in cases has been seen this year and no case of the new BF.7 variant has been reported in Gautam Budh Nagar yet.

Gautam Budh Nagar reported its first Covid case in March 2020. After seeing a peak around September-October, cases started reducing gradually. The second and more deadly wave was seen around March-April 2021 when the maximum fatalities were reported.

The third wave was around January 2022, when the number of cases were higher but the overall intensity of the disease was much less.

Meanwhile, one batch of Covishield vaccine has also been approved by the state and reached the district on Wednesday after remaining out of stock for almost a month. These will be available for the public from Thursday.

“The state has allotted 21,300 doses of Covishield for our district. We have distributed these to 14 centres where it will be made available through online booking as well as spot registration,” said Dr RK Singh, district immunisation officer.

So far, around 4.63 million vaccine doses have been administered in Gautam Budh Nagar, which includes around 400,000 precautionary doses, 2.33 million first dose and 1.87 million second doses.