102 villages in Gzb have no active case
The Ghaziabad administration on Thursday said that 102 of 161 villages in the district do not have any active Covid-19 case and the rest are likely to become Covid-free in the next 10 days. The officials have attributed the development to the “voluntary community containment programme”, which was initiated on May 22.
According to a survey by the district administration, 22 in Razapur block, 26 in Loni, 39 in Muradnagar and 15 in Bhojpur are Covid-free now.
“The 102 villages surveyed by our teams have no active case at present. Our ‘voluntary community containment programme’ has helped us control the infection in villages. Under the programme, villagers are observing restrictions like opening of shops for a brief time period, community policing and restricting outsiders’ entry to villages,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate.
“The programme will continue to ensure that no more cases surface further in villages which are Covid-free. The distribution of free medical kits and active participation by ‘gram nigrani samitis’ have also helped check the spread of infection,” he added.
On Thursday, Ghaziabad had 54,752 total cases that included 429 deaths, 52,279 patients discharged and 2,044 active cases, according to the state’s daily health bulletin.
According to the official figures, about 17,500 tests were conducted across the rural segments during the last five days under the programme which resulted in 252 positive cases.
“After the panchayat elections ended on April 15, we stopped entry of outsiders and street vendors. Under the programme initiated by the administration, we asked our shop owners to open shops for limited period of time and villagers also helped in ensuring that Covid protocols were followed. In April, there were about 25 cases. But now, we have no active cases,” said Ashok Kumar, pradhan of Matiyala village.
The district magistrate also directed the municipal corporation for a survey to find out Covid-free residential wards under the municipal area.
Municipal officials said that the survey is on and the figures will be received in a couple of days.
“Our teams are conducting a survey in all 100 residential wards and likely to complete it in a day or two. We are also taking help of other sources to determine Covid-free wards,” said MS Tanwar, municipal commissioner.