Newly-wed couple among three found to have Covid-19 in Noida

Noida: Three persons tested positive for Covid on Tuesday, taking the total number to 289 in Noida.
Tuesday’s patients include a newly-married couple, residents of Sector Chi 2 in Greater Noida. The 33-year-old man is an employee of a private news channel, where 15 others had tested positive on Monday. He and his wife of five months have been admitted to GIMS in Greater Noida.
Health department officials said they were still tracing the contacts of the private news channel’s employees. According to the officials, at least 1,000 employees of the company are yet to be tested. Most of these employees were handling production in the evening, night and early morning shift.
By Tuesday, 22 people attached to the company were in home quarantine while 20 others were admitted to hospitals. The average size of their families is three, which means there could possibly be fewer number of contacts. With 31 cases so far, the media group is emerging as the latest cluster in Noida after Cease Fire and JJ Colony.
Other than the couple, the third patient is a 33-year-old man and resident of Sector 8. He is the son of a 62-year-old man who died earlier this month after testing positive.
Among those discharged on Tuesday are two employees of Vivo who had tested positive at a private laboratory based in Gurgaon and subsequently admitted to Sharda hospital in Greater Noida. Their report came negative after their samples were tested again at NIB in Noida.
Officials raised questions on the validity of tests conducted by private labs that are not accredited by ICMR. “On the basis of the results from a private lab in Gurgaon, the patients were shifted to Sharda hospital, where they were tested again. This time, their reports came negative,” said Deepak Ohri, the chief medical officer of Noida.
Officials said that notices had been issued to the private lab in Gurgaon and a health facility in Delhi to which it claims accreditation.
“Showcause notices have been issued to both these labs for not following protocol and giving erroneous results. Only those labs that are on the accreditation list of ICMR will be allowed to take samples and conduct testing,” said Narendra Bhooshan, the nodal officer for Covid-19 response in the district.
While four new containment zones were added to the list of hotspots, no new cases were reported from Oppo. “We are committed to government guidelines on Covid-19 protocols and are adhering to all directives even as we await the results of the remaining reports,” said an official from Oppo.
Two more cases were reportedly confirmed from Jewar-Bangar village — woman and her nine-month-old child. While officials began sealing the village and have quarantined several contacts, these cases were yet to be added to the district’s tally on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, 13 patients were discharged from Sharda hospital and GIMS, taking the total number of recovered cases to 207. Officials said there were 14 other positive cases that have been cross-notified to Delhi, Ghaziabad, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Agra and Hapur.