With 6 new patients, no. of COVID-19 cases in Gautam Buddh Nagar rises to 32

Six more persons, including two women, tested positive for coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Sunday, taking the total number of cases in the district to 32, officials said. A 31-year-old man from Dadri's Bishnoli village, a 19-year-old girl from Noida Sector-27, and two men aged 34 and 35 and a 35-year-old woman from a housing society in Noida's Sector-137 are among those who tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, the district administration here said in a statement.

Later in the evening, the health department added one more positive case in its daily statement on coronavirus cases in the district. The patient is a man from Wajidpur village, official sources said. His age and other details were not immediately available.

"A total 492 samples have been sent for COVID-19 testing so far, of which 32 have tested positive, 379 negative and results for 84 are awaited," the health department stated.

Currently 1,850 people are under surveillance across Noida and Greater Noida, while another 241 are quarantined – 45 of them at a Gautam Buddh University hostel and rest at special isolation facilities in hospitals, it added.

"The villages, sectors and society concerned have been temporarily sealed for a period of 48 hours so that sanitisation work can be carried out there. No entry into or exit from the villages would be allowed during this period except for emergencies," District Magistrate B N Singh said in an order.

All of Sunday's six cases had directly or indirectly come in contact with a London-based man, who had come to a private firm in Noida's Sector-135 for audit work, according to officials. At least 19 people, including females, in Gautam Buddh Nagar got infected directly or indirectly because of the company (by coming in contact with their employees), the officials said.

An FIR was lodged against the firm on Sunday for hiding information about the British citizen's arrival and stay here from March 14-16 on the basis of a complaint from district Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Anurag Bhargava. The contact of infection of all patients in Gautam Buddh Nagar has been traced, the CMO said in a statement and appealed to people to practise social distancing and wash hands frequently to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Uttar Pradesh has so far recorded 72 COVID-19 cases, state government officials said in Lucknow, while the Centre put the all-India figure at 1,024, including 27 deaths, on Sunday.