Fighting coronavirus: Noida launches mass testing in housing societies as Covid19 cases rise

With 90 fresh cases, Gautam Buddh Nagar, as of July 13, has reported 3,495 cases, highest for any district in Uttar Pradesh. (Photo: The Indian Express)

As coronavirus infections continue to surge, the Noida administration has stepped up its efforts for early detection of the virus and launched aggressive mass testing in housing societies. The administration has joined hands with RWAs and is putting up camps in housing societies and community centers to offer free rapid antigen testing. From July 2 to 12, it had also conducted a special testing drive to detect COVID-19 cases. On Sunday (July 12) alone, the administration conducted 4,177 tests through the special testing drive; out of which 3,707 tests were antigen tests.

“We are getting a positive response from the people,” said a senior government official as reported by The Indian Express.

The health department is looking to set up more camps in the district. According to the official, the health department is conducting nearly 2,500 tests every day in housing societies. “We have been approached by several societies,” said the official, adding that we will be deploying teams to get the camp up and running.

In order to set up a camp, the Noida administration and the medical team from the state health department coordinate with officials from a housing society. They are provided with nearly 300 antigen kits for testing per centre. If more required, the medical officials conducting tests are asked to reach the official in charge to acquire more kits.

According to officials, one just needs an ID proof showing that he/she is a resident of Noida and he/she has to provide the contact details at the centre for testing.

With 90 fresh cases, Gautam Buddh Nagar, as of July 13, has reported 3,495 cases, highest for any district in Uttar Pradesh; as many as 2,590 patients have recovered/discharged from hospitals, while 33 deaths reported due to coronavirus linked complications. But there was no death reported yesterday. The district still has 872 active cases, according to the data from the health department.