Noida: With the number of Covid cases rising in the district, the administration has ramped up surveillance and sanitisation drives in containment zones, especially in areas from where higher number of cases are being reported. Officials said that more teams are being added to intensify surveillance in those areas. The administration had sought extra staff members from the Noida Authority, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority.

District magistrate Suhas LY said that the local authorities have sent additional staff. “Their training has started. We will be sending more teams to the containment zones,” he said. As on Monday, the district had 1,428 active cases and some localities are reporting cases almost every day for the past one month, officials said. These areas include Gaur City 1 and 2, sectors 62, 31 and 121 and Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO) in Greater Noida.

Gaur City 2 has reported the maximum number of cases since the surge started in March. It is still the largest hotspot with 70 containment zones and more than 150 cases. Sector 62 has 40 containment zones, AWHO society has 35, Gaur City 1 and Sector 121 have 31 containment zones each, Sector 74 has 26 and Arihant Arden has 24 containment zones.

“We are in touch with Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) in these places and we have told them to keep all common areas, like community halls, clubs, gyms and parks shut for now. Many RWAs are complaining that residents are not following Covid protocols within the society premises despite repeated requests. This is a big problem, especially in areas where the numbers are high,” said Dr Obaid Quereshi, the nodal officer for containment zones in Noida.

Officials said that 85 additional staff members would be part of surveillance teams and they are being given two-days’ training. There will be 800 surveillance teams — 620 for urban areas and 180 for rural areas. Of these about 300 teams are assigned for Noida, 125 for Greater Noida, 120 for Dadri and the rest for Bisrakh, Jewar and other areas.

Officials said that each team will have three members — one health official, one official from the administration or authority and one from the local nigrani samiti or resident monitoring group. “The teams will visit containment zones and check people who have ILI/SARI symptoms. They will prepare a list of such patients and send that to the testing teams, who will then collect their samples for Covid tests,” said Dr Nepal Singh, the nodal officer for surveillance.

On Monday, sanitisation drives were conducted at 93 spots. Meanwhile, the district administration also circulated the link of a Google document among residents in case they have any queries/complaints. The district magistrate has asked all officials to stay on alert and respond to residents’ questions.

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