With 5 new patients, no. of COVID-19 cases rises to 31 in Gautam Buddh Nagar

Five more persons, including two women, tested positive for the coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Sunday, taking the total number of cases in the district to 31, officials said.

Those who tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday were a 31-year-old man from Dadri's Bishnoli village, a 19-year-old girl from Noida Sector 27 and two men aged 34 and 35 years and a 35-year-old woman from a housing society in Noida Sector 137, the administration here said in a statement.

"The village, sector and society concerned have been temporarily sealed for a period of 48 hours so that sanitisation work could be carried out there. No entry into or exit from the village would be allowed during this period except for emergencies," District Magistrate B N Singh said in an order.

All the five latest cases had directly or indirectly come in contact with a London-based man, who had come for audit work in a private firm in Noida's Sector 135, according to officials.

An FIR was lodged against the firm on Saturday for hiding information about the British citizen's arrival and stay here from March 14-16 on the basis of a complaint from the district's Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Anurag Bhargava.

The contact of infection of all patients in Gautam Buddh Nagar has been traced, the CMO said in a statement and appealed to people to practise social distancing and wash hands frequently to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

Uttar Pradesh has so far recorded 55 COVID-19 cases, while the all-India figure stood at 979, including 25 deaths, on Sunday, according to the Union Health Ministry.