With 11 new Coronavirus cases, Agra crosses 1,300-mark

Agra: Eleven new cases have taken the Covid-19 tally in Agra to 1,306, while 1,081 have been discharged upon recovery. Fortunately, no death has been reported in the past two days. The death toll remains at 90 in the Taj city.

The recovery rate is more or less stable at 82.77 per cent, though the number of containment zones has gone up to 74.

Meanwhile, on the second day of the statewide Covid surveillance programme, members of 980 teams surveyed 58,986 homes and contacted 3.30 lakh people to get their latest health status.

The SN Medical College has initiated work on the Plasma Bank. The ICMR has given green light to the project. The wait is now for donors who do not seem to be forthcoming though the number of recovered cases is fairly high, a doctor said.

However, Agra district authorities have expressed concern over resurfacing of Covid-19 cases after the Unlock-1 from posh areas that had become virtually free of the dreaded infection.

An official said the opening of markets and shops and with domestic help returning to work in posh colonies, the interaction has increased and some people have become complacent too. This laxity has spurted the surge in urban areas of the district.

Cases have been reported from Kamla Nagar, Jaipur House colony, Vibhav Nagar, Natrajpuram, Vasant Vihar, Avas Vikas colony and North Idgah colony. Many big houses appear deserted as residents have moved out to safer places.

The chief cause of worry is the general laxity in following the guidelines of Unlock-1. The markets are crowded with people without masks, who hardly maintain the social distancing norm. Even at the sample collection centre at the Employment Exchange, people are not able to follow social distancing, a health worker said.

A senior district official said it was worrisome that cases of Covid-19 were resurfacing from posh colonies. People need to be doubly careful and follow the guidelines strictly.