No fresh COVID-19 case in Noida, surge in tests

Tuesday witnessed a surge in the number of samples taken for COVID-19 test in Gautam Buddh Nagar, even as no fresh positive case was reported in the district that has become the coronavirus hotspot in Uttar Pradesh, official data showed.

On the brighter side, so far six patients who tested positive for coronavirus have recovered, officials said, adding that they have been discharged from the hospitals.

Gautam Buddh Nagar adjoining Delhi on the western border of UP has so far recorded 38 COVID-19 positive cases, the highest for any district in the state, according to the local Health Department.

"A total 626 samples have been sent for COVID-19 test from Gautam Buddh Nagar so far, of which 38 have tested positive, 421 negative and the result for 170 was awaited," the department stated in its daily statement.

Previous daily statements from the department had put the sample figures at 531 till Monday, 492 till Sunday, 480 on Saturday, 441 on Friday, and 391 on Thursday, showing a steady upward rise.

Currently, 1,852 people are under surveillance across Noida and Greater Noida, while another 291 have been quarantined -- 86 of them at a Gautam Buddh University hostel and the rest in special isolation facilities at hospitals in Noida and Greater Noida, it added.

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District Magistrate Suhas L Y, who assumed the charge on Tuesday, said there are adequate testing kits for coronavirus in Gautam Buddh Nagar and more resources are being pooled in to combat the pandemic, asserting that his priority is tracing contacts of COVID-19 patients.

According to officials, around two dozen COVID-19 cases in the district could be traced to private company Cease Fire in Sector 135 of Noida either directly or indirectly.

An FIR was registered against the firm on March 29 under the UP Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and IPC Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (unlawfully or negligently spreading infection of any disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) after a complaint by Gautam Buddh Nagar CMO Anurag Bhargava.

The firm, whose own employees had returned from the UK in March and a London-based auditor had come to its officer earlier this month, was sealed on Tuesday, the administration said.

UP has so far recorded 103 positive cases of COVID-19, officials in Lucknow said on Tuesday. They have put at 39 the cases in Gautam Buddh Nagar, even as the health department here said the number was 38.

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