13 test +ve at juvenile home, 149 others crammed in halls

Noida: As many as 13 inmates of the Noida observation home in Phase II tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. All of them have been sent to Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida for treatment. The remaining 149 inmates continue to be huddled in the home, which does not have enough space for ensuring quarantine of all of them.
Officials said the Covid antigen and PCR tests were conducted on all the 162 inmates and 17 staffers of the observation home throughout Thursday. The results of the antigen test came on Thursday itself, and 13 of the inmates were found positive.
Of them, seven were new inmates, who had been serving the mandatory isolation of 14 days in two separate rooms inside the premises.
“The results of PCR tests are awaited. Samples of the nose and throat swabs of the inmates have been sent for testing. The tests were conducted till 8 pm on Thursday after directions were received from the department of women and child development. Seven of the 13 inmates who have tested positive, are new ones. None of the staffer tested positive,” said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation home.
While there are three rooms which have been reserved for the new inmates to serve quarantine, the remaining reside in five different halls. However, there are multiple common areas used by all the inmates.
And officials suspect that the six other old inmates could have contracted Covid since they were using the same washrooms, water coolers in the common area.
“The health department officials were of the view that the old inmates got infected possibly because they used the same washrooms, water coolers and touched walls and windows of the premises. Anyway, we are offering warm water, tea to the inmates twice to the inmates, who are also being made to do gargles. The water coolers have been removed,” Maurya said.
TOI had earlier reported that out of the total 185 inmates in the home, as many as 56 inmates were released by the juvenile justice board (JJB) in April on parole following directions from the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, taking cognisance of the matter, the JJB of Gautam Budh Nagar has written a letter to the district judge, DM and the CMO of the district asking them to ensure proper sanitisation of the entire premises, board member Aneet Baghel told TOI.