The number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) affected patients in Uttarakhand climbed to 51 on Sunday after the state health department reported three new cases of the disease. All the three patients were reported from Dehradun district. One of them is a health worker (nursing staff) working in the Urology department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh while the other two include a pregnant woman and her husband from Azadnagar colony of Dehradun. The health department and the authorities of the AIIMS Rishikesh were shocked when report of a nursing officer of AIIMS was found positive for the disease. The AIIMS authorities immediately sealed the entire block of the Urology department and sent all the staff members of the department into quarantine. The dean, hospital affairs of AIIMS, Rishikesh, Dr U B Mishra said that the nursing officer was working in IPD wing of urology department and he developed mild symptoms on April 24. On April 25, the nursing officer presented himself at screening OPD where his sample was taken for COVID-19 test which was found positive. Dr Mishra added said that probably this nursing officer came into contact with some asymptomatic carrier in the ward. He said that samples of all the patients admitted in the ward and all staff members who came into contact with him are being taken for test.
The additional secretary, state health department, Yugal Kishore Pant said that a 32 year old pregnant woman of Azadnagar area of Dehradun was found positive for the disease on Sunday. Later, during the night, her husband was also found to be COVID-19 positive as per the report received from the government Doon Medical College lab. Pant said that two patients of the disease were discharged from Mela hospital, Haridwar after their second sample was found negative on the day. He said that so far 28 patients have recovered from the disease and discharged from the hospitals. Pant added that 56 per cent of the total positive cases in the state have recovered from the disease. He said that rate of collecting samples is 455 per million of population in Uttarakhand and only 1 percent of total of samples tested have been found positive which is much less than the national average. The rate of doubling of patients in the state for past one week has been 28 days.
Pant said that reports of 254 suspected patients were received by the department on Sunday till 6.00 pm and two of them were found positive for the disease. He said that reports of 348 samples are still awaited by the department.
Later at 9 PM, the report of the pregnant woman’s husband also turned out positive. The authorities have so far taken swab samples of 5277 suspected patients for COVID-19 test. On Sunday, samples of 119 suspected patients were taken and sent to the lab for test. The authorities have so far provided psychiatric counselling to 22276 migrants labours kept in different relief camps of the state. Pant said that seven colonies- Bhagat Singh colony, Kargi Grant, Jhabarwala in Doiwala, Keshavpuri Basti, Muslim Colony, Azadnagar near ISBT and Bees Bigha colony in Rishikesh in Dehradun district have been declared containment zones. In Haridwar three areas are declared hotspots while one area ( Vanbhoolpura) is hotspot in Haldwani of Naintal district.