Doctor back from Russia with booster dose tests positive

Ghaziabad: Four persons, including two doctors who had recently arrived from Kenya and Russia, have tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. Chief medical officer Dr Bhavtosh Shankhdhar said all the patients are asymptomatic but have been admitted to a

Covid

isolation facility at Santosh Hospital as a precautionary measure.

According to health officials, the Russia returnee had received both the doses of Sputnik vaccine and a

booster dose

, while two others are students of a Greater Noida school but residents of Ghaziabad, including

Crossings Republik

that has already seen nine Covid cases.

The district has recorded 30 fresh cases in December so far, which is the highest since August when 26 cases were reported. The number of active cases stands at 26.

On Wednesday, district surveillance officer Dr RK Gupta said samples of both the doctors, who were visiting Ghaziabad and staying in separate hotels, have been sent for genome sequencing, while a camp has been set up by the health department to check the hotels’ employees and other guests. Kenya and Russia are not on the list of “at-risk” countries, he said.

Officials said the 52-year-old doctor from Bihar, who is practising in Russia, had reached his home state on December 5 and had come to Ghaziabad on December 11. He was staying at a hotel in Indirapuram and was planning to return to Russia soon. The patient, officials said, has received both doses of Sputnik vaccine as well as a booster dose.

While the vaccination status of the Kenya returnee is not known, officials said he is a resident of Nagpur and also staying at an Indirapuram hotel. The hotel staff had informed the health department about the patient. The doctor was planning to leave for Colombo soon, officials added.

Meanwhile, the two minors, both 14-year-olds, who tested positive for Covid, were among the contacts of another patient and used to take the same bus to a school in Greater Noida. According to officials, one of the patients is a resident of a housing society in Crossings Republik and the other lives near Lal Kuan.

The health department has now written to their counterpart in Gautam Budh Nagar for examining the school staff, other students living in the district and their family members. Officials are also tracing the students of the school who live in Ghaziabad.


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