Six more test positive for Covid-19 in Noida, total cases 54

The total number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 54 in Gautam Budh Nagar Friday night with four people living in a slum in Nangla in Sector 5, Noida, testing positive

The total number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 54 in Gautam Budh Nagar Friday night with four people living in a slum in Nangla in Sector 5, Noida, testing positive for Covid-19.

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Preliminary investigations suggest the four have links with Ceasefire company in Sector 135, Noida. Of the 54 positive cases, 35 are directly or indirectly linked to the fire safety company that hid its employees’ foreign travel details.

“We have locked down the whole JJ Colony in sector 5 for two days. We will sanitise the area. All residents have been asked to stay in home quarantine as a precautionary measure,” said Rajiv Rai, sub-divisional magistrate.

Earlier in the day, two more persons, linked to Ceasefire, had tested positive. The patients are a 55-year-old woman and her 25-year-old son. The woman’s works with Ceasefire, but he had tested negative for the disease.

“The husband of the patient works with Ceasefire and was negative for Covid-19. Both new patients have been admitted to the isolation ward at the Super Speciality Children’s Hospital in Sector 30,” Sunil Dohre, additional chief medical officer, Gautam Budh Nagar, said.

The residential society where they lived has been sealed for two days and officials are going to sanitise the building where the family lives as well as the common areas on the premises. All residents have been asked to remain in home quarantine as per protocol.

On Friday, two Covid-19 patients were discharged after treatment from Government Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida. They include a 67-year-old woman and her 37-year-old son from Noida Extension. In total, eight have been discharged after successful completion of treatment.

“The discharged woman had diabetes and blood pressure but she successfully completed the treatment. We are happy that our patients are recovering,” Dr Saurabh Shrivastava, head of the department of medicine, said.

According to health officials, until now, none of the patients has required ventilator support and all have been responding well to treatment. Doctors are a little worried about one patient, an 82-year-old woman from Sector 37, who has dementia, blood pressure and a few other complications. Experts say senior citizens with a history of chronic diseases have more trouble recovering from Covid-19.

The district administration is also coming up with a call centre to do contact tracing of people testing positive for the virus. “To break the chain, it is important to do contact tracing. We are going to use technology to trace the epicentre of the infection. Until now, a majority of the cases are linked with Ceasefire,” Suhas LY, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, said.

The Expressway police has lodged an FIR against Ceasefire under section 45 (Punishment of offences committed within India), 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR has been lodged on the orders of the chief medical officer for hiding the foreign travel history of a few employees.

The managing director of ceasefire had returned from UK on March 1, another employee had returned on March 7 and they had a visiting auditor from London for three days in the third week of March. All the three persons jumped their quarantine and were attending office which led to the spread among other employees and then to their family members.

The MD is undergoing treatment at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences but he is still asymptomatic.