Two more test positive for Covid-19 in GB Nagar

Two more persons—a woman in Sector 100 and a man in Sector 78—tested positive for the novel Coronavirus in Gautam Budh Nagar on Tuesday increasing the total number of Covid-19 cases in the district to three.

“We got the test results of the man and the woman in the early hours of Tuesday after which the man was shifted to the isolation ward at Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS). The woman was already under the observation at GIMS. All the persons who came in touch with the duo have been asked to quarantine themselves at home. While the woman had travelled to France, the man had come in contact with the Janakpuri patient who worked in the Sector 80 company,” chief medical officer Anurag Bhargava said.

The woman patient is a 21-year-old who had returned from France on March 13 and was allowed to exit the airport after being checked for flu-like symptoms at the airport scanning centre. On March 14, however, she developed flu-like symptoms after which she got in touch with the health officials and gave her swab sample for testing.

The woman stays in a flat with three other friends, who had also returned from France where they are all studying medicine. The flat belongs to the patient’s father, who resides in Jharkhand. On Tuesday, officials also took swab samples of the woman’s flatmates, who have also been told to quarantine themselves at home.

The second patient is a 30-year-old man who lives in a society in Sector 78 with a friend. After his test result came in, officials took swab samples of his friend as well and told her to isolate herself at home.

The man worked in the Sector 80 factory whose employee from Delhi’s Janakpuri had tested positive for the virus March 11. Officials had identified 29 people who had come in direct contact with the first patient after he returned from Italy and samples of four were taken—one of them being the Sector 78 resident.

After coming back from Italy, the Janakpuri resident had worked for 18 days before he tested positive for novel coronavirus.

HEALTH OFFICIALS VISIT RESIDENTS

Health officials are visiting all residents living in both the societies to find out if any other person has shown flu-like symptoms. Residents living in the same building as the patients have been asked to go under home quarantine as a precautionary measure and officials have started sanitizing both the buildings.

“We are going to put all the residents living within a radius of one kilometre from the two societies under surveillance. Tests of three other colleagues of the Sector 78 man have been found negative for Covid-19,” said Anita Meshram, divisional commissioner, Meerut, in-charge of Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad districts.

COMMUNITY ACTION

While residents of the Sector 100 society, where the Covid-19 woman patient lives, restricted entry of outsiders as a way of distancing and residents of the Sector 78 society, where the man lives, advised those living in the same tower as the patient and the one beside it to quarantine themselves at home.

“We have restricted entry of outsiders as a precautionary measure. Domestic helps who were working in the building where the girls live have been asked to not come for work for now, while residents of other buildings have been requested to not call their domestic helps as well to restrict entry of outsiders. Many people have agreed to this arrangement, but a few senior citizens sought exemption which was granted on the condition that they would remain vigilant about the help’s health and give their contact details to the society’s office bearers,” said a member of the Sector 100 residents’ welfare association (RWA).

As a way of offering support, Sector 78 RWA members have told quarantined residents that they can ask others to buy essentials for them from the market.

“We have requested residents living in two towers of the society to quarantine themselves. In one building, the identified patient lived while in the other one, his colleague whom he was in touch with lives. We have also restricted entry of domestic helps to ensure that no outsider contracts the virus. We are sanitising the entire premises, including the lifts, multiple times,” said a senior Sector 78 RWA member.

As on Tuesday evening, health officials had tracked 1,400 persons with travel history to affected nations, 1,065 persons were put under surveillance, 200 samples were collected, three in all tested positive for Covid-19, 139 tested negative and results of 59 were awaited.