Noida district hospital to house travellers from high-risk nations, two hostels to quarantine local suspected cases

The health department of Gautam Budh Nagar is equipping two hostels to quarantine locals suspected to have Covid-19, while the newly built district hospital in Sector

The health department of Gautam Budh Nagar is equipping two hostels to quarantine locals suspected to have Covid-19, while the newly built district hospital in Sector 39 will be used to quarantine those flying in from high-risk countries.

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People admitted in these centres will be allowed to leave if and when sample results return negative and they complete the 14-day quarantine period.

By Wednesday evening, district health officials had tracked down 1,444 persons, and 218 samples had been sent for Covid-19 tests. Of these, four have returned positive, 154 were negative, while 60 results are still awaited.

The district administration is preparing Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar SC/ST Hostel in Gautam Buddha University, to quarantine 300 persons—one person per room. Around 100 rooms were readied by Wednesday night.

A team of six doctors and medical staff will be working in three shifts. Around 20 members of cleaning staff will be present in three shifts, and two lekhpals will be available on each floor. The administration has appointed 15 Prantiya Rakshak Dal jawans for security, who will also work in three shifts. Additionally, one police sub-inspector and four constables will be present at the campus at all times.

Work on rooms at the other hostel, Munshi Premchand,also in the university campus, is yet to begin, and will start once work at hostel Ambedkar is complete.

“Around 100 rooms are ready at the Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hostel. We are making all the possible arrangements for people quarantined here. The district hospital in Sector 39 is ready for use,” said Diwakar Singh, additional district magistrate, GB Nagar.

Officials will issue identity cards to the staff appointed at the hostels and to quarantined persons. No outsiders will be allowed to enter the facilities.

“The subdivisional magistrate of Sadar will issue ID cards for staff and quarantined persons. We have to ensure that these people do not get in touch with others. Nobody without an ID card will be allowed inside. Quarantined people will start coming in from Thursday morning or Wednesday night, if there is an urgent need, because 100 rooms are ready,” Singh said.

The new district hospital in Sector 39 has 400 beds ready to be put to use. The isolation ward will act as an observation home for people landing at Delhi’s IGI Airport from Covid-19-affected countries, including China, Italy, Iran, Korea, France, Spain and Germany. The hospital will keep them under round-the-clock observation for 14 days.

“We will be informed by the state and health ministry about people returning to GB Nagar from abroad. Those people will be kept in the new district hospital for observation,” chief medical officer Dr Anurag Bhargava said.

Currently, two persons have been put under quarantine at the Sector 39 district hospital. One is the wife of a Covid-19 patient who returned from Indonesia. The second person returned from a south-east Asian country, and the resident welfare association of his society didn’t allow him to enter its premises, after which he approached the chief medical officer for help.