NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: Amid concerns over the Omicron variant of Covid, the GB Nagar administration was handed over a list of 3,187 passengers, who reached the district from abroad since November 21.
The administration, however, has tested about 90 of them, so far. In Ghaziabad, too, only 367 of the total 2,362 passengers have been tested.
On Wednesday, GB Nagar officials blamed the slow pace of testing on several foreign returnees who are reluctant to undergo the tests. “As per the government guidelines, Covid testing of travellers from ‘at risk’ countries are to be done on the eighth day of their return but we have recently got orders from the Lucknow headquarters to test all passengers after they complete their mandatory seven-day quarantine. However, we are facing resistance from many such people, who are not ready for Covid testing. We are trying to counsel them,” chief medical officer Dr Sunil Kumar Sharma said. “Besides, there are many travellers who are yet to be traced,” the CMO added.
The official data reveals that over 6,350 travellers have come to six districts in the Meerut division with a maximum number of travellers having GB Nagar addresses. Of them, 926 have been tested so far. Meerut, however, has tested 372 of the 670 travellers on the list provided by the airports' authority. Meanwhile, Ghaziabad health officials said they have been following the plan to test each traveller irrespective of the country of their travel from day one.
