35 new cases surface in Agra; tally rises to 138

AGRA : With 35 new Covid-19 cases, the maximum in a day here so far, surfacing on Monday, the number of patients in the district has now risen to 138.

Still defending the ‘Agra model’, administrative and health officers here attribute the sharp rise to aggressive sampling and identification of suspected cases which, they say, will prove beneficial in the long run. Of 35 new cases, eight are contacts of ‘Jamaatis’. Of the total 138 cases, 60 are Jamaatis and their links.

AGRA : With 35 new Covid-19 cases, the maximum in a day here so far, surfacing on Monday, the number of patients in the district has now risen to 138.

Still defending the ‘Agra model’, administrative and health officers here attribute the sharp rise to aggressive sampling and identification of suspected cases which, they say, will prove beneficial in the long run. Of 35 new cases, eight are contacts of ‘Jamaatis’. Of the total 138 cases, 60 are Jamaatis and their links. “We are witnessing a sharp rise in number of patients at present but soon it will start decreasing. Institutional quarantine is the only solution to such types of cases,” said district magistrate, Agra, Prabhu N Singh.

Favouring shifting contacts to the institutional quarantine facility and then collecting mass samples from there only, the DM said they would continue with ‘Agra model’ based on massive sampling, social distancing and institutional quarantine. The alarming factor was spread of the deadly virus to rural area of Fatehpur Sikri where an infected person transferred it to 14 in family and these cases tested positive in a day. The other hotspots are Paras hospital where staff and their contacts alone constitute 20 patients. Denying that Paras hospital was sealed, CMO Dr Mukesh Kumar Vats said some patients were undergoing treatment there but added that no new admissions were allowed.