Matching up with the data of Covid 19 cases at the National level, Meerut district too has shown an upward trend in the past 11 days of April with the highest 219 cases being recorded on Sunday taking the total of positive cases to 1330 in this month so far.

On Sunday, 219 people tested positive for Covid 19 which is the maximum number of cases reported in a single day in 2021 in the district. Shockingly, of these 219 cases, 134 are of the age group of 16 to 45 years. So far, 1330 Covid cases have been reported here till April 11 whereas 3 infected persons died during the treatment. The total positive case in the district so far were 23,149 while 715 persons were undergoing treatment in home isolation till Sunday.

In just 11 days in April, the number of Covid positive cases has multiplied by almost 3.5 times in the district which is a matter of great concern for the administrative and health officials.

On April 1, 64 people had tested positive and on the following day, the figure jumped to 74 cases though there was a fall to 58 cases on April 3 again on the next day the positive cases were 91. On April 5, the total cases reported were 74 and thereafter the figure crossed the 100 mark on April 6 with 108 cases. Since then, the tally of positive cases has been showing an upward trend. (April 7 – 119, April 8 – 165, April 9 -147, April 10 -210 and April 11- 219).

Concerned over the spread of Covid-19 in the district at such a high pace, the administration had even imposed a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am since Friday which will continue till April 18. The speculations are high that the night curfew could be extended further if the number of cases keeps increasing at this pace.

District Surveillance Officer Dr Ashok Taliyan says that the new strain of virus is targetting the age group of 16 to 45 years more. He said that men and women in this age group are moving out for some work and interacting with the crowd. He appealed to people to follow Covid 19 protocol of wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and following hand hygiene. He asked people to be extra careful and remain indoors unless it is really necessary for them to go out.

The data of the health department from April 6 to 11 suggests that the new strain of the virus is affecting the people of age group 16 -45 more as compared to other age groups of 0-15, 46-60 and 60 plus. On April 6, out of a total of 108 cases, 70 were from the age group of 16 to 45 whereas on April 7 it was 72 out of a total of 119.

On April 8, 85 out of 165, on April 9 86 out of 147, on April 10 116 out of 210 and on April 11 134 out of 219 were positive. The percentage of positive cases in this age group was more than 60% on April 11. People in the age group 60 plus and children below 15 are, however, least hit by this strain of the virus. The second-highest target group of this new strain of virus is from the age group of 45 to 60 years as suggested by the data of the health department from April 6 to April 11.