GB Nagar administration to collect 4,000 samples per day for Covid-19 test in special drive
Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY said that the samples will be tested via different methods. “We have set a target of testing 1,000 samples through the lab-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, and 3,000 via the rapid antigen method.
The Gautam Budh Nagar district administration has set a target to collect 4,000 samples per day to test for Covid-19 during a special drive beginning in Meerut division from Thursday.
Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY said that the samples will be tested via different methods. “We have set a target of testing 1,000 samples through the lab-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, and 3,000 via the rapid antigen method. Teams of trained health workers are being constituted for different localities. We will focus on taking samples from residents living in high-risk containment areas,” he said.
The district magistrate further said that till date, over 20,000 samples have been collected by different labs in the district.
“We have so far tested samples from over 18,500 persons through RT-PCR, while over 1,500 samples have been tested through rapid antigen test kits. This special drive, beginning Thursday, will not only help identify more positive cases but will also aid their speedy recovery. Gautam Budh Nagar district’s sampling rate is around 10,000 per million, which is around five times the national sampling rate of less than 2,000 per million,” he said.
Suhas also said that taking cognisance of the rising cases in the district, the leaves of all the government employees have been cancelled until further notice. “According to the government order, they have been asked not to leave their headquarters without my permission, except for an emergency,” he said.
The district magistrate further said that the annual Mudiya Poono fair, scheduled to begin from July 1 this year has been cancelled due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
“We will restrict the movement of people from the district to Govardhan in Mathura district. The state government has issued an order in this regard” he said.
Meanwhile, the Gautam Budh Nagar district, on Tuesday, reported 97 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the overall Covid-19 count in the district to 2,301 cases. The district chief medical officer Dr Deepak Ohri said that as many as 76 Covid-19 patients were cured and discharged from different hospitals by Tuesday, taking the overall number of cured patients to 1,506 in the district so far.
“So far, 22 patients have lost their lives in the district. As a result, the district now has 776 active cases,” he said.
According to the daily Covid-19 bulletin released on Tuesday by the state headquarters in Lucknow, in the last 24 hours, as many as 25 Covid-19 patients in Uttar Pradesh have lost their lives and their death audit report is awaited.
According to the bulletin, the overall tally of the Covid-19 positive cases in the state has gone up to 23,500 with 672 new cases in the last 24 hours.
“While 672 patients have lost their lives due to the infection in the state so far, 16,085 patients have been cured and discharged from different hospitals in the state till date,” the bulletin stated.