(Eds: Adds controversy over tests, GIMS' response)
Noida (UP), May 7 () As many as 10 more people, including five staffers of two private hospitals, tested positive for coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the district to 202, officials said on Thursday.
No patient was discharged on Thursday and the number of those cured stood at 109, leaving 93 active cases in the district, the officials said.
"Total 124 reports have been received in the last 24 hours. Ten of them were positive and the rest were negative for COVID-19. The cumulative positive cases of coronavirus in Gautam Buddh Nagar are now 202," District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said.
Three housekeeping staff from Sharda Hospital in Greater Noida besides a nurse and an attendant from Felix Hospital in Noida have tested positive for the virus, the officials said.
Among other patients are a 55-year-old man from Sector 15 and a 17-year-old teenager from Sector 8 -- both in Noida, the officials said.
Also, a four-year-old girl, and a 15-year-old female teenager and 33-year-old woman in Greater Noida's Nat Madiya village tested positive for infection on Thursday, they added.
"So far, 109 of the 202 patients have been cured and discharged, leaving 93 active cases in the district," the surveillance officer said.
The recovery rate of patients is 53.96 per cent, according to official statistics.
According to officials, so far 3,854 samples have been collected for COVID-19 test in Gautam Buddh Nagar, while 366 people are currently under institutional quarantine.
Meanwhile, a controversy erupted over "low number of tests" being conducted in Gautam Buddh Nagar as some people took to social media to claim that "higher authorities" were meddling in the result reports.
However, the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida refuted the charges, saying that due to technical reasons, some lab reports tend to be inconclusive.
The lab at GIMS has got the Centre's approval to conduct COVID-19 tests and is the only government body in Guatam Buddh Nagar with such an approval. Besides GIMS, two private labs also have approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in the district.
"The molecular lab of GIMS is conducting Covid diagnostic testing by RT-PCR (a lab technique) under the strict protocols as per ICMR and is accredited by ICMR. The tests are being validated by Equas programme of referral lab of KGMU, Lucknow," GIMS Director Dr Brig (retd) Rakesh Gupta said.
"Sometimes, due to technical reasons, lab reports tend to be inconclusive. In such cases, retesting us done and in this case all inconclusive samples have already been sent for retesting to NIB, which is a government of India institute," he said in a statement.
In fact, all COVID-19 labs are mandated to send certain samples to other labs for re-verification, Gupta said. "There is no interference from any higher authorities."
Many residents of Noida do get tested by private labs in Delhi, Ghaziabad etc and they are always free to do that as per ICMR protocol, he added. KIS TDS TIRTIR
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