COVID-19: 1,500 teams for door-to-door screening in Noida

Noida (UP), Jul 2 () The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration on Thursday launched a 10-day surveillance campaign to strengthen coronavirus screening across Noida and Greater Noida with 1,500 health teams involved in it, officials said.

Another 40 teams comprising physicians, nurses and lab technicians have been formed to carry out 4,000 tests per day, the officials said.

Gautam Buddh Nagar's nodal officer for COVID-19 response Narendra Bhushan, Police Commissioner Alok Singh and District Magistrate Suhas L Y launched the campaign.

"The campaign will run from July 2 to 12 while 1,500 teams will conduct door-to-door screening of people and suggest tests for people with symptoms. To test 4,000 coronavirus samples every day, the administration has formed 40 teams comprising physicians, nurses and lab technicians," according to an official statement.

The teams will conduct 3,000 real-time PCR and 1,000 antigen-based tests, it said, adding that the teams have been trained for the campaign.

Chief Medical Officer Deepak Ohri said testing facilities have been created at primary and community health centres and district hospitals in Bisrakh, Dadri, Bhangel, Badlapur, Jewar and Dankaur.

"Besides, intensive screening and testing will be done in over 300 containment zones during the campaign," the statement said.

According to official figures, 3,638 COVID-19 tests were carried out on Thursday in Gautam Buddh Nagar, which yielded 54 positive results.

Of the total tests, 10 were TrueNat, 1,591 RTPCR and 2,037 antigen-based, the data showed.

Meanwhile, the district administration updated the list of containment zones in Gautam Buddh Nagar.

There are now 246 category I (which have one COVID-19 case) containment zone and 57 category II (more than one case) across Noida and Greater Noida, according to an official document.

A containment zone in an urban area covers 250 metres in radius which can include a mohalla or a floor of a residential tower, if there is a single positive case of coronavirus (category I) and exceeds to 500 metres along with a 250 metre buffer zone if multiple cases (category II), according to officials.

However, in rural areas, an entire village will be a containment zone if one case is reported. If there are multiple cases, then the adjoining village will be taken as a buffer zone, they said.

Non-essential movement in or out of a containment zone gets restricted besides increased vigilance and action by the health department for contact tracing and preventive measures against COVID-19, they added. KIS RDK RDK