More than 100 cases in two weeks: Noida sees a spike

NOIDA: The weekly rate of Covid cases has seen a spurt in Noida in the past two weeks, when more than 100 people have tested positive. Most of these cases have some connection with hospitals, and the patients are either healthcare professionals or other staff at hospitals.
On Monday, Noida reported six new cases, taking the district’s Covid count to 224. Of these six Covid patients, three are linked to hospitals. Among them were a 22-year-old resident of Sector 8 who was undergoing neourological treatment at Kailash Hospital. A nurse (48) working at LNJP hospital in Delhi and her 53-year-old husband, who live in Sector 12, were also found to have Covid. The three others are relatives of a man who died two days after testing positive.

What has worried the Noida health department more is that most of the recent cases also have no known source of infection. Covid cases in Noida started from March 5 and remained in single digits for the next three weeks. However, the last week of March saw a spike with 24 cases. Most of these cases were related to Cease Fire, a fire safety company in Sector 135 that turned out to be one of the largest super-spreaders of the districts. Cases reduced by the second week of April, but increased again the following week. However, the spread of infection in the Cease Fire chain had almost been contained by then.
But fresh cases had started to emerge in areas like JJ Colony in sectors 8, 9 and 10. Several other cases were reported from across the city, many of which could not be traced to a definite source. Between April 27 and May 3, when Lockdown 2 ended, Noida had reported 52 cases. Between May 4 and 10, 51 people have been found to have Covid. Many of the recent Covid patients are either healthcare workers or had visited hospitals at some point. As of now, Noida has 10 cancer and dialysis patients and nine pregnant women who have tested positive.
“We have seen an increase in the number of cases related to hospital infections and already started training of health staff there. GIMS is providing the training related to various aspects of sanitisation and safety requirements while handling patients. Meanwhile, the health department and a WHO team are conducting audits of all hospitals and healthcare centres in the city. We have also decided on a specific action plan to control infections in JJ Colony,” said Narendra Bhooshan, nodal officer for handling Covid response in the district.
There is, however, a silver lining. Health department officials said the doubling rate of cases in the district is 18 days. This means that it takes 18 days for the number of Covid cases to double in Noida. Officials said the number was encouraging as it shows that the spread of the infection is being controlled. The city’s doubling rate is also better than the national average of 10.2 days.
“The death rate here is also very low and we have managed to keep most patients from getting critical. We also have a high recovery rate of almost 60%, which is double the national average of 30%. These are all encouraging numbers,” said a senior health department official.