11-year-old among 9 more Covid cases; Sec 135 firm owner whose 14 staffers tested positive to be booked

The chief medical officer of Gautam Budh Nagar has ordered that an FIR be filed against the company whose 14 employees tested positive for COVID-19--13 in Noida

The chief medical officer of Gautam Budh Nagar has ordered that an FIR be filed against the company whose 14 employees tested positive for COVID-19--13 in Noida and one in Ghaziabad--- even as nine more people were found to have been infected by the Sars-CoV-2 in the district. Of these nine people, four are from one family. The total number of COVID-19 patients in the district touched 26 Saturday evening.

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The nine persons include an 11-year-old girl, three members of her family from Greater Noida West and five employees of a company that makes fire extinguisher in Sector 135 of Noida. The five employees include the company’s 52-year-old managing director who stays in C Block, Sector 44, Noida.

The FIR was initiated because three persons, including a British national with a travel history to UK, had jumped their mandatory quarantine period of 14 days and were working at the firm which led to spread of COVID-19 to other employees and their family members.

The network of people who got infected allegedly through a British national and the two employees of the company who had flown down from London in Sector 135 is yet to be fully tracked.

Till Friday evening, nine people were found positive for COVID-19 who had directly or indirectly come in contact with the British national or the two employees, including the MD. The total number of people related to the firm who have been found positive for the virus has now reached 14, including a case from Ghaziabad.

The CMO has asked the Expressway police station to register an FIR against the firm. The CMO has written that appropriate legal action should be taken under the Uttar Pradesh Epidemic COVID-19 Act 2020. The letter was sent on Saturday afternoon.

Officials have taken samples of around 30 people, including more employees of the said company and their family and friends.

“The MD did not show any symptoms but he got himself and his wife tested for COVID-19 at a private lab; he was found positive for the virus. The health officials again took his sample to get it confirmed and it again came out positive on Saturday; the wife tested negative,” chief medical officer Dr Anurag Bhargava said.

The other four employees are – a 53-year-old man from sector 128, a 53-year-old woman from sector 37 and two men in their thirties from a highrise in Greater Noida. Officials have sealed the residential societies where all the four employees reside for two days. Officials will be sanitising the buildings and the premises of the societies. No movement of residents will be allowed as per the orders of the district magistrate.

“There are 26 cases in the district till now. We have identified the source of infection in all the cases. The family of the 11-year-old got infected through her uncle who had returned from Denmark. There are 13 employees and their family members who got the virus from the MD who had returned from UK on March 1. Another employee had returned on March 7 and then an auditor from London came in third week of March. They didn’t keep themselves under home quarantine as per the protocol, and thus the spread. We have asked the police to register an FIR against the company,” said Dr Bhargava.

Also, the health officials have sealed the hotel in Sector 135 where the Briton had stayed and have put the staff of the hotel under home quarantine. Officials are keeping a tab on the health of all the people related directly or indirectly to the chain of positive cases from the sector 135 company. “We are collecting samples of suspects and the ones coming forward with symptoms,” said Dr Bhargava.

The 30-year-old employee from Dadri lived alone.

“From these cases, we can learn that social distancing is very important to avoid contracting COVID-19,” the CMO said.

MINOR GIRL’S CASE

The 11-year-old’s uncle (37) and grandmother (67) were found positive for COVID-19 on March 22. The girl and her family were put under quarantine after four of them were found positive Saturday. There are 10 members in the family of the 37-year-old man who returned from Denmark. Six have tested positive for COVID-19 till now. All family members of the positive patients have been put under home quarantine and the procedure of collecting their samples is in process.

The Noida Extension residential society, where the minor lives, was sanitized after her uncle and grandmother were found positive. The girl has been admitted in the isolation ward of a Super Speciality Children Hospital and the remaining persons have been admitted to Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS).

By Saturday evening, the health department had tracked 1,124 travellers, 1,849 person were under surveillance, 483 samples were collected, 366 reports have come negative, 26 positive cases were found positive while 91 reports are awaited. Officials have admitted 15 persons at GIMS, Greater Noida and 10 are at the Super Specialty Children Hospital, Sector 30.