‘Super spreaders’ in Ghaziabad markets as 79 staff of business establishments found Covid-19 positive

Ghaziabad: Residents need to be extra cautious while visiting various showrooms, sweets and chemist shops, and auto workshops, among others, as the records of the

Ghaziabad: Residents need to be extra cautious while visiting various showrooms, sweets and chemist shops, and auto workshops, among others, as the records of the district health department’s “focussed testing” indicate that staff of these establishments have potential to be “super spreaders”.

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The 15-day drive was initiated on October 29 in Ghaziabad during the festival season and ended on Thursday. According to the health department figures, under the drive from October 29 to November 12, about 20,852 tests were conducted for the specific groups such as auto-rickshaw drivers, beauticians, staff of showrooms and malls, staff at sweet shops and chemist shops, among others.

The focussed testing yielded 79 positive cases who were isolated as per Covid-19 protocols. However, officials of district administration said that such specific groups have potential to spread infection more than a normal person who moves out.

“These groups were tested specifically as they operate in markets and, if found infected, have potential to spread infection to large number of people. So, this drive was taken up specifically around the festival season so that more of such people can be identified and filtered out if infected. This will prevent their customers from getting infection,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate.

However, the test records available from October 29 to November 12 indicated that highest number of positive cases, 19, was found among staff of showrooms and automobile workshops. About 13 staff members working at chemist shops were also found positive. The records also found that seven auto drivers and 14 staff at different sweet shops were found positive for Covid-19 during the drive.

Though the overall positivity rate of the tests conducted during the drive was about 0.38%, experts said that the rate can still be considered high if it is seen in comparison to the total population.

“I feel that 0.38% positivity is still high for such groups if we see them in view of total population of the district which is about 45 lakh. So, such categories of persons can also be called as high risk groups which have potential to spread infection manifold. So, the drive has been conducted timely and must continue till the festive season ends,” said Dr VB Jindal, former president of the Indian Medical Association - Ghaziabad.

The health department officials said that the focussed testing was done to prevent the spread of infection.

“The focussed testing was done randomly for specific groups to find which one has high positivity and can infect people more. These groups, which have potential to be super spreaders, come in contact with hundreds of people each day during the festival season. So, we conducted random tests and isolated those who turned positive,” said an officer from district health department who wished not to be named.

The officials added that the department has time and again advised and is spreading awareness among the masses to adhere to wearing of face masks, wash hands frequently and maintain social distancing in order to avoid infection.