After 2 months, active Covid cases surpass 1,000 mark again in Noida

NOIDA: Active Covid cases in Noida have surpassed the 1,000-mark again after over two months. On Sunday, 122 fresh cases took the district’s count of active cases to 1,002. Before this, the number of active cases had touched 1,100 in mid-June.

Since then, active cases in Noida have hovered around the late 900s but never crossed 1,000. Officials said that since residents have been venturing out more with the ease in restrictions, chances of contracting the infection have grown manifold. “Also, testing in Noida has been scaled up manifold. We have sufficient resources to handle active patients and will continue to maintain the pace of testing that we have started,” chief medical officer Deepak Kumar Ohri said.
Till late June, Noida had been accused of not doing enough tests. Testing was ramped up considerably in July, when the state government had set a target of 4,000 tests daily between July 2 and 12. Rapid antigen kits made it easier for the health department to produce results within minutes and detect patients at an early stage. But more tests meant more cases. Despite a rise in Covid patients, Noida managed to keep the fatality rate below 1%. The district administration has now urged the labour department to issue an advisory to factories and industrial units to get workers who are returning from their hometowns tested. “Labourers have started coming back to the city in large batches. Without the support of the factory owners, it will be difficult to keep track of them. We have asked industrial units to share details of such workers with us,” said PK Singh, the deputy labour commissioner.
Officials analysing the Covid trend over the past nine weeks said a second wave may be raising its head in the city soon. Till August 20, the Covid curve in Noida seemed to be flattening. But between August 23 and 29, a total of 722 fresh cases was reported. In comparison, the weeks between July 5 and 11 and July 12 and 18 saw 729 and 750 cases, respectively.