50 test positive for corona in Kanpur locality

The Shivnagar area of Barra in Kanpur has emerged as the biggest hotspot of the city after 50 persons tested corona positive since Friday. The area has been marked as a red zone.

Majority of those who have tested positive are asymptomatic.

The matter came to light after a corporator of Barra area fell ill, and was found to be corona positive after he was tested. His representative also tested positive.

The health officials began contact tracing and found that people who had come in contact were also Corona positive. 19 of those who have tested positive are women.

According to chief medical officer Dr Ashok Shukla, all those who have tested positive have been admitted even though majority of them were asymptomatic.

Vice-principal of GSVM medical college, Prof Richa Giri, said if a person does not show any symptom, it simply means that his/her immune system is good.

"But it does not mean that the person should be let free as any carelessness will prove deadly. They must come forward and cooperate with the medical teams for their treatment," she said.

Meanwhile, sources said that majority of those who had tested positive were those who had been visiting the house of a local councillor to watch Ramayana on television, which was being televised by Doordarshan till last month.

In their eagerness to watch the epic on television, the people neither wore masks nor maintained social distancing.

A senior health official said, "The area is essentially a Dalit slum and majority of the residents are involved in the trade of selling milk, vegetable, fruits etc. The women work as domestic maids. The area has now been declared a hotspot and we are stepping up testing."

IG Kanpur Mohit Agarwal visited the area on Friday night after the Corona test reports came in.

The IG ordered door-to-door supply of essential items in the area and warned of action if people violated the lockdown rules and stepped out of their homes.

Ramdevi, a local resident, said that the people of the area move out of their houses for work and also for social interactions.

"I cannot recall how many people I have met in the past few days. I work as a maid in three houses and interact with the families and their guests. How can I point out the people I have met recently?" she asked.

Ramdevi and her sister-in-law Krishna are among those who have been visited the councillor's house to watch Ramayana and refuses to believe that this caused the spread of corona.

"We do not have a TV set in our home so we used to go there to watch Ramayana. How can anyone get corona by watching Ramayana?" she wanted to know.

( With inputs from IANS )