5 teams to step up surveillance in city

Shalabh | TNN | May 2, 2020, 07:59 IST

Noida: To regulate movement of people and strengthen surveillance measures, the Noida administration has formed five health teams for 13 hotspots that have reported Covid cases over the past few days.
While nine of them are villages under the Noida or Greater Noida authorities, the other four are spread across sectors 5, 8, 9 and 10.
District magistrate Suhas LY said three teams would be dedicated for only surveillance work and trace tertiary contacts of patients from these localities. These teams would also keep an eye on movement of people and report violations to police. Each team would comprise at least three health workers and other officials.
A fourth health team will trace and quarantine immediate contacts in government facilities. The fifth team has been given the task of carrying out random collection of samples.
Meanwhile, officials in the Noida administration have started discussing ways to ease restrictions in the district. Sources said the final decision would be taken only after consultation with senior officials in Lucknow.
But officials, however, said Noida would find it difficult to allow operations of industries, commercial establishments and offices owing to the high number of positive cases. In the past 48 hours, all three industrial development authorities in the district (Noida Authority, Greater Noida Authority and Yamuna Expressway Authority), which double up as civic agencies, have reported positive cases.
“We will seek clarity from senior officials in Lucknow on how to go about the restrictions., We will then issue relevant orders and advisories in a day or two,” said an officer.