13 Noida juvenile home inmates test COVID +ve, 149 children at risk of infection

At least 13 inmates at a Noida juvenile home test positive for novel coronavirus, with over 149 children at the risk of infection. Officials suspect that common halls, common washrooms and water coolers might have aided the spread of COVID-19 inside the juvenile home.

Noida (Uttar Pradesh):After the infamous Kanpur episode in which 57 girls at a children's shelter home tested COVID-19 positive, around 13 inmates of an observation home in Noida have now tested positive, with over 149 others crammed in dingy halls still at increased risk of being infected.

According to reports, all children who tested positive have been sent to the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) for treatment.

The juvenile home is located in Phase 2 of Noida and houses around 162 inmates and 17 staffers. Out of the 162 inmates, seven are currently serving mandatory isolation of 14 days within the observation home.

The incident is a cause of worry as cramped up rooms and dingy halls do not provide sufficient facility to enforce social distancing and the isolation of primary contacts.

Following the incident, the state health department has started testing all inmates and staffers starting Thursday. District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohra told ETV Bharat said that the entire premise of the juvenile home has been sanitized.

Read:Seven of family fall ill after consuming prasad in Uttar Pradesh

Officials suspect that common halls, common washrooms and water coolers might have aided the spread inside juvenile home.

Earlier, 57 girls at a state-run children's shelter home in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district had sted positive for COVID-19, with five of them found to be pregnant.

Gautam Buddh Nagar has so far recorded 2,477 positive cases of COVID-19, the highest for any district in the state, and it has 929 active patients, according to official figures updated till Thursday.

The district, adjoining Delhi, has also recorded 22 deaths due to the disease, with a mortality rate of 0.88 per cent and a recovery rate of 61.60 per cent, according to official statistics.