Nuh, one of the most backward districts in India, has one more reason to celebrate this Eid. The district, which, around a month ago, topped charts in number of COVID-19 positive cases owing to the second highest influx of attendees of Tablighi Jamaat conference in Nizamuddin, has been declared COVID-19-free. With the last five active cases testing negative today and these patients being discharged, the district is free of the novel coronavirus.
Notorious for rampant illiteracy and poor health infrastructure, the district has waged one of the most tough but successful wars against COVID-19 in Haryana, beating even its resource-rich neighbours Faridabad and Gurgaon, which are struggling with new positive cases every day.
Speaking to THE WEEK, Civil Surgeon Dr Virender Yadav credited the success to timely and pinpoint tracking of suspected cases, continuous sampling, efficient tracing of contacts and sampling, strictly implemented quarantine policy and active and continuous surveillance.
“Nuh had long remained at zero cases but even then we had started preparing for the big fight and that preparation paid off. We were caught in crisis as 700 Jamaatis returned here and majority tested positive, surging our numbers and soon we were in red zone. We then started aggressive containment and sampling and during a time period we were testing and sampling 24x7. This helped us contain transmission,” Yadav said. According to Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar, Nuh was the first district that contained as high as 37 areas and screened almost every resident and helped keeping people safe by reaching out to all and creating a 'Nuh' model for fighting COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the state has registered 64 new cases today, of which 21 are US returnees. They were among the 73 returnees quarantined in Panchkula. Of the positive cases, 16 of them have been shifted to Mullana Medical College in Ambala, two in Rohtak and three others are being sent to Kaithal facility.
The total number of cases in Haryana till now have risen to 1,131, with Gurgaon registering 12 new cases and Faridabad 10.
