A private hospital in Agra has become a new hotspot of deadly coronavirus infection after 20 people there have been tested COVID-19 positive on Sunday.
Just a day after the central government lauded the "Agra model of containment" in curbing the spread of coronavirus, now comes the news of a cluster of 20 coronavirus infection in the district.
On Sunday, 31 news cases of COVID-19 came to light in UP, out of which 12 were from Agra, nine were from that private hospital only, according to a report published in the Indian Express. The infected include patients, attendants and health workers.
The private hospital has now been sealed and no new patients have been admitted since April 6. The hospital has been identified as Paras hospital.
Hospital sealed-contact tracing on war footing
The District Magistrate of the Agra, Prabhu Narain Singh, said that the hospital has been sealed and the administration is trying to trace all the people who came in contact with the affected persons.
"We have declared the hospital a major hotspot and it has been sealed and sanitised. No new patient was admitted to the hospital after April 6. The contract tracing is on at a war footing and we are ensuring institutional quarantine of all the direct and indirect contacts," said the D.
According to a circular issued by the DM office, all people who either visited the OPD or came in contact with the health staff at the Paras Hospital between March 22-April 6, have been asked to provide their information on Whatsapp number 8859074040 or the district control room by Monday 2 pm."
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"It is highly required that the normal protocol of screening and sampling is followed on these people. Residents of Agra are requested that whoever might have visited the hospital OPD and have been admitted or came in contact with any staff from March 22 to April 6 should provide their information on Whatsapp number 8859074040 or the district control room by Monday 2 pm," the circular by the DM office read.
Possible source of infection
The source of the infection at the Paras hospital is considered to be a 65-years-old woman from Dholi Khar who was admitted to the hospital with kidney issues. when her condition didn't improve she was shifted to a hospital in Merrut where her report came out to be coronavirus positive.
All people those who came in contact with her, attendant, health workers have been asked to self-isolate and be tested for coronavirus.
Around 200-300 patients come to the private hospital every day. The hospital gets patients from neighbouring districts as well including Hathras, Aligarh, etc.
Agra has 104 cases of coronavirus with 89 active cases, while total cases in the state reached 483, including five deaths.
As of on Monday, over 2144 people have been tested for the coronavirus in the district.
First case in Agra
The first case in the city came to light when a married woman from a business family returned to Agra from Italy, already coronavirus infection hotspot by then, on March 3. Her family initially tried to hide her and didn't let health workers check the lady even when they visited her house. Later, the DM had to intervene and then only they buckled and allowed the lady to be tested. she then turned out to coronavirus positive.
Of all the cases in Agra, around 250 positive cases have been found to have a link with members of Talbligh Jamati. Over 2000 people had attended the Tablighi Jammat in New Delhi in March where some of them got infected with the virus. As they returned to their native places across the country, cases of the infectious disease have been reported with connection to the Delhi Markaz.
