22 persons linked to Noida fire safety company test positive for Covid-19

On Sunday, five more persons were found positive for Covid-19 in Gautam Budh Nagar who had direct or indirect link with a security and fire safety solutions company in sector 135 where 22 people were infected.

With this, the total number of cases in the district rose to 31.

The infection is thought to have come about after a Briton visited the firm in the third week of March for an audit and met its managing director. Ever since the first confirmed case — that of the managing director’s wife — was brought to the notice of the authorities, they began an intensive contact tracing exercise.

The newly identified patients are a 19-year-old woman employee of the company who stays in a rented apartment in sector 27, a 34-year-old employee of the company and his brother and sister-in law, both 35 years old, and a 31-year-old employee from Dadri.

The initial report of the 34-year-old man had come negative but the health officials decided to test him again as his mother and wife were found positive. “He was quarantined and tested again because we had our doubts. His current report has confirmed him positive,” said a senior health department official.

The new patients were isolated at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences and their conditions were stated to be stable.

On Saturday, the district chief medical officer had ordered an FIR against the company the managing director had a travelled to the UK and the Briton had violated their quarantine period that allegedly led to the spread of the virus.

Administration officials are going to seal the whole area where the newly identified patients live in Dadri and sector 27. The residential society in sector 137 was sanitised when the man’s wife and mother were found positive for the virus.

“More reports are awaited from the same exercise,” said Dr Anurag Bhargava, chief medical officer of Gautam Budh Nagar.

The CMO wrote to the Expressway police station that appropriate legal action should be taken under the Uttar Pradesh Epidemic COVID-19 Act 2020.

“We are yet to receive the hard copy of the CMO’s order to register an FIR against the company in sector 135. We will follow his orders as soon as we receive it,” said Yogesh Malik, station house officer, Expressway police station.

Officials have taken samples of around 30 people including the employees of the company and others who came in contact with them like their family members and friends.