Patients with cough, cold land up to test for corona, docs say cannot ‘waste’ kits

Noida: The health department of Gautam Budh Nagar has been contending with hoards anxious people rushing to the Government Institute of Medical Sciences to get themselves

Noida: The health department of Gautam Budh Nagar has been contending with hoards anxious people rushing to the Government Institute of Medical Sciences to get themselves checked for coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

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According to officials, around 50 people have been going to GIMS on a daily basis to get themselves checked for Covid-19, on the back of regular cough and cold. Officials said they can’t expend medical kits required to collect sample for the virus to clear convince panicking people.

According to the Union health ministry, 44 people have tested positive for the virus in India so far.

“Every day, there are over 50 patients suffering from regular fever, cold and cough, coming here to submit samples to be tested for Covid-19. The chief medical officer has been providing us the required kits to collect the sample and those can’t be wasted. We have been convincing people that they don’t need to panic,” said Dr RK Gupta, director, GIMS.

“We are collecting samples of only persons who have been sent by the CMO or those whose names are there in the list provided by the state government,” said Dr Anurag Bhargava, chief medical officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.

The health department has provided GIMS officials with 300 kits to conduct tests of suspected people.

“We have sufficient kits to take samples for Covid-19, but still it’s difficult to handle so many people who want to get themselves checked for the virus. Regular cold and cough has now become a problem because everybody is scared,” Bhargava added.

The health department has kept emergency teams on alert to handle any cases that may crop up during Holi. Officials have been spreading awareness about Covid-19 in a bid to curb rumour-mongering.

“Our emergency teams are working round-the-clock to attend to any person suspected of Covid-19. People have been asked not to take part in large gatherings, to avoid any infections. Till now, there has been no positive case of Covid-19 in the district,” Bhargava added.

GIMS has so far taken samples of at least 143 people for Covid-19. Around 50 reports have returned, all of which have tested negative.

The health department has reserved 10 beds at GIMS and nine beds in the Super Specialty Children Hospital and put them under in isolation, if a case of the disease is confirmed. The department has also zeroed in on the newly built district hospital building in Sector 39 to put to use if required in contingency.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses. This family includes the viruses that cause Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome), Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and viruses that cause milder illnesses such as the common cold. The outbreak started in China’s Wuhan province. Around 3,800 people globally have died of Covid-19 so far, and 110,000 have contracted the disease as of Monday.

Following the ongoing Covid-19 scare and an advisory from the health department, malls and shopkeepers in most markets said they are taking precautions to avoid the infection, including placing hand sanitisers at entrances.