Second COVID-19 fatality in Noida; discrepancy in UP govt, local admin data

A 62-year-old man died due to coronavirus in Noida, becoming the second COVID-19 fatality in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district, officials said on Saturday.

The man, a resident of sector 66, died on Friday but the report of his COVID test came out positive on Saturday, they said.

"He expired yesterday (Friday) evening. The cause of the death was cardio-respiratory failure," District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said in a statement.

Another person who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday is a 52-year-old man residing in sector 45's Khajoor Colony, the officer said.

"Total 100 reports have been received in the last 24 hours of which two were positive and the rest negative for COVID-19. The cumulative positive cases of coronavirus in Gautam Buddh Nagar are now 216," Dohare said.

However, the state government's data as shared by officials in Lucknow stated that 15 new coronavirus cases were found in Gautam Buddh Nagar on Saturday, taking the number of active cases to 103, figures that did not match with statistics given by the local administration.

The data, updated till 6 pm, stated two deaths and 121 discharged patients, figures that matched local administration's statistsics.

There was no clarification on the discrepancy in the data by officials, neither in Lucknow nor in Gautam Buddh Nagar.

On the brighter side, two patients were discharged after recovering from the disease on Saturday, according to the statement.

The two men, aged 23 and 40, were undergoing treatment at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida, it said.

"So far, 121 of the 216 patients have been cured and discharged, leaving 93 active cases in the district," the surveillance officer said.

The recovery rate of patients is 56.01 per cent, as per official statistics of the district administration.

According to officials, so far 3,981 samples have been collected for COVID-19 test in Gautam Buddh Nagar, while 401 people are currently under institutional quarantine.

A 60-year-old man from Sector 22 died on Friday due to respiratory failure, becoming the first COVID-19 casualty in Gautam Buddh Nagar, officials had said.