Will conduct RT-PCR tests in Ghaziabad schools to confirm cases, say officials

In the wake of the rise in cases, the health department has directed the education department to ensure that all Covid protocols are followed during physical classes in schools

The officials of the district health department said on Wednesday that they will administer RT-PCR tests to students and staff to confirm suspected Covid-19 cases, because while schools have reported several suspected cases recently, only eight cases from seven schools were confirmed till Tuesday.

Ghaziabad district has recorded 84,929 Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. (Sunil Ghosh/ HT Photo)

Of the seven schools, one is in Delhi and one in Noida Extension, and all the infected students/staff are residents of Ghaziabad, officials said.

According to officials, one case tested positive via RT-PCR on April 10; two on April 11 and five on April 12.

“There are instances wherein parents administer Covid tests to their children using antigen test kits at home and report them Covid positive to their schools. The antigen test results, however, are only suggestive and not confirmatory. For instance, a school in Indirapuram reported four Covid cases but only two of them were confirmed positive. Likewise, the school at Vaishali reported five cases, but only one student was confirmed infected,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, district surveillance officer.

In the wake of the rise in cases, the health department has directed the education department to ensure that all Covid protocols are followed during physical classes in schools.

“Apart from administering RT-PCR tests for suspected cases, we are also sending their samples for genome sequencing in order to detect the variant of Covid-19. So far, we have not found severity in infected cases and they have mild or no symptoms. Once the infected cases are reported on our portal, our teams can provide help if it is needed,” he added.

According to official records, the district till Wednesday reported 35 active cases, including 11 fresh cases recorded on Wednesday. Overall, the district has recorded 84,929 Covid cases since the start of the pandemic and the total number of cases reported in the month of April so far is 55.