Noida (UP), May 18 () Thirty-one people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Monday, pushing the total number of coronavirus cases to 286 in the district, officials said.
Nine of the new patients are workers of Chinese phone maker Oppo and two construction workers at a factory site of its sister-concern Vivo in Greater Noida, the officials said.
Eight of the Oppo workers are locals, while one is from Ghaziabad, they said.
Also, 15 contacts of a 39-year-old man, who works at a media firm in Noida Sector 16A and was detected with the infection on May 15, have been found positive on Monday, District Magistrate Suhas L Y said.
"The man lives in Delhi's Laxmi Nagar but works at Zee Media office in Sector 16A Noida. He was found COVID-19 positive on May 15. His 51 contacts were tested at Max Lab in Delhi. His 15 contacts, who are employees in the same organisation, residing in Gautam Buddh Nagar have tested positive," the DM said in a statement.
Another 13 contacts of the man who reside in Delhi, Faridabad and Gurgaon have tested positive for coronavirus and the administrations of their respective districts were doing the needful, as per protocols.
Among other patients are five contacts of a man from Sector 5 Harola village, who was earlier detected with the infection and a 40-year-old woman from Sector 78 Noida, he said.
"Total 1,679 test results were obtained on Monday of which 1,648 were negative and 31 positive. Total 286 positive cases have been recorded so far. Three patients were discharged on Monday, taking the number of recoveries so far to 194 and active cases are 87," according to the statement.
Guatam Buddh Nagar adjoining Delhi in western UP has so far recorded five deaths -- all males aged above 60, according to officials. The number of samples collected till Monday stood at 8,245, according to the official statement.
Oppo has got 3,321 employees tested for COVID-19 at a private lab in Gurgaon, Haryana and result of 1,581 of them have been sent to the health department, Gautam Buddh Nagar, while others were awaited, it stated.
Vivo got 18 employees tested at a private lab in Gurgaon, Haryana and 16 of them resulted negative, while two positive, the administration said.
Specific areas of the premises of Oppo and Vivo in Greater Noida and Zee Media office in Noida have been sealed for sanitisation work, according to the statement.
A Vivo spokesperson said, "No Vivo employee has tested positive till date and we are taking all precautionary measures adhering to all government guidelines."
"Our current operational factory, 15 kms away from the construction site, is running at 30 per cent of its capacity as per the norms stated by Greater Noida authorities," the spokesperson added.
Oppo said in a statement that it places the safety of all its employees and citizens at the forefront.
"We had not only undertaken COVID-19 tests for all employees at the manufacturing facility in Greater Noida but also suspended all operations at the plant. We are undertaking stringent measures to keep the employees safe," the company said
Oppo also said that it has started screening more than 3,000 workers who have to join work and also approached the government for the test. KIS TDS
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