25 cases in 2 wks: Dankaur emerging as a rural hotspot

Greater Noida: With 25 new cases in less than two weeks, Greater Noida’s Dankaur is fast emerging as the second Covid hotspot after Jewar in rural Gautam Budh Nagar. In the wake of the rising cases, the district administration released a fresh list of six containment zones on Monday.
All the six zones — Lamba Galiyara, Prempuri, Nai Basti, Gaon Faiada Bangar, Mohalla Kumharan and Patpada — are in category 1, that is with just one case each and sealed for a 250-m radius. Other areas from where positive cases are reported include Maharpada Mohalla, Thana Dankaur and Unchi Dankaur. However, these are outside the six containment zones.
What has been the most affected is Lamba Galiyara, which is Dankaur’s main market area. The area has been sealed after seven cases, all from a single family, have been reported from here.
Though the nagar panchayat is arranging all the daily necessities such as medicines, groceries and cattle feed, some 20 teams, comprising auxiliary nurse midwife and Asha workers, are deployed to monitor the six containment zones and carry out door-to-door screening (through oximeters, thermal scanners and infrared thermometers) and surveillance drives.
“We are following strict screening, contact tracing and surveillance in all areas where positive cases are reported. This is carried out by 20 teams,” said Prasun Dwivedi, SDM (Sadar).
While the first Covid case in Dankaur was reported on June 17 from Lamba Galiyara, of the three cases reported on Sunday — a 60-year-old senior citizen, a pregnant woman and a youth — the last one has been absconding since testing positive for Covid. “He had given false address and has switched off his phone. All efforts are on to trace him as well as his contacts,” said Dr Lalit Shyamal, the medical officer in-charge, Dankaur.
Increased testing has also been initiated in Dankaur primary health centre since Saturday. “There were 50 samples collected on the first day of PHC operations, followed by 40 samples collected on the second day and similar numbers are expected on Monday,” said Aalok Pratap Singh, tehsildar of Dankaur sadar.
Though a small block, about 20 kms from Surajpur collectorate, where the total population as per 2011 Census is 14,872 in Dankaur town nagar pallika area, there’s an additional rural population from neighbouring areas, according to executive officer Seema Raghav.
“We are carrying out daily screening of possible ILI symptomatic people, while posters have been placed on home fronts on those requiring quarantine, symptomatic people are sent for sample testing,” said Dr Shyamal.