Active Covid cases under 50 in Gautam Budh Nagar, a first this year

The number of active coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases has reduced to below 50 for the first time this year since cases started increasing during the third wave of the pandemic, officials said Wednesday. According to health officials, there are 48 active cases in Gautam Budh Nagar; six new cases were reported on Tuesday.

So far, the district has recorded 98,565 cases, 490 fatalities and 98,027 recoveries. A total of 2,011,770 tests have also been administered. According to officials, around 10-20 fresh cases are still being recorded everyday in the district. However, they said that it is not a concern as the positivity rate is less than 0.1%.

Officials added that even though the district targets the administration of around 7,000 tests everyday, including RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests, only about 3,000 are actually administered.

According to data from the health department, the number of fresh cases recorded everyday had crossed the 100-mark on January 2 this year for the first time since the first wave of infections was reported in 2020. The number of daily cases had peaked on January 12 this year when 2,230 cases–the highest single daily tally of new cases reported in Gautam Budh Nagar since the beginning of the pandemic–were recorded. Meanwhile, the highest number of active cases was reported on January 16 when the district recorded 12,705 active cases. Cases then started reducing mid-January onwards.

“Even when other districts have zero cases, Gautam Budh Nagar continues to report some cases because it is closer to Delhi and there is a lot of intercity travel and communication between the two. Now that government restrictions have been lifted, people should continue to be more careful and follow all Covid norms,” said Dr Sunil Sharma, chief medical officer.

As cases continue to reduce in the region, however, doctors are sounding caution since cases are on the rise again the world over.

“We have not seen many new cases in the past two months. However, once a wave starts, cases will definitely increase and not much can be done. People must be cautious by ensuring hygiene, wearing masks and continuing to ensure social distancing wherever possible,” said Brigadier Dr Rakesh Gupta (retired), director, Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), Greater Noida.

Meanwhile, vaccination for the 12-15 age group has also picked up pace in the district. With school examinations over and the number of centres for this age group having been increased, the number of children who have been vaccinated has also shot up in the past few days. In the first week when the Corbevax vaccine was introduced for the 12-15 age group, 90 children had taken the shot. In the second week, 4,906 children were jabbed. This is the third week since the vaccine was launched and 9,896 children have already taken the shot in the first five days. While the district’s target for this age group is 69,814, 21% of it has been achieved in less than three weeks as 14,892 children have taken the shot.

Gautam Budh Nagar has also achieved 100% fully vaccinated status in all other age groups. A total of 3.969 million doses have been administered, which include 2.227 million first doses, 1.69 million second doses and 51,188 booster doses. Additionally, 147,000 doses have also been administered to the 15-18 age group.