By Pawan Tripathi Noida/Ghaziabad, April 9 : Amid the surge in Covid cases in Noida and Ghaziabad, likely due to the XBB.1.16 Omicron variant, the administrations of both the districts have taken a slew of measures to contain the virus. The authorities have directed that anybody coming from abroad will be tested for the virus and for this, surveillance teams have been constituted. The administration has also ordered the activation of the rapid response team which comprises a medical officer. People who are suffering from fever will be tested for Covid and the lab will send the report to the health department. All government and private hospitals have been directed to send samples of the infected people to KGMU hospital in Lucknow for genome sequencing. Frontline workers, inspection committees, private and government hospitals have been asked to identify patients with respiratory ailments and ask them to get tested for Covid. If a person tests positive for the virus, the rapid response team will immediately visit their house and do contact tracing. If the symptoms are found in another person, the command control room will be informed immediately. Noida recorded 52 fresh Covid cases in the past 24 hours and 56 patients have recovered from the contagion. Noida has 271 active cases and seven persons infected with the virus have been hospitalised. In the past 24 hours, 671 samples have been taken. Ghaziabad has recorded 72 Covid cases in the past 72 hours and has 120 active cases, of which 113 are in home isolation while seven are admitted in various hospitals. According to a health bulletin issued on Saturday, 1100 persons were tested for Covid of which 29 tested positive. On April 7, 24 tested positive for Covid while 31 cases were reported on April 6. In view of the rising cases, the Noida District Magistrate has released a toll free number 18004192211 of an integrated control room. One can call up this number for help and Covid related information. Noida also has patients infected with XBB.1, XBB 1.5 and XBB 2.3. Of these, XBB.1 is the most infectious and if precautions are not taken, is likely to turn into a new Corona wave. Noida Chief Medical Officer Sunil Kumar Sharma has appealed to the people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour, not to venture into crowded places and wear masks so that the virus can be contained. In the sector 39 based Covid care hospital, the third floor of the medical facility has been turned into an isolation ward. Nodal officers have been named to handle various responsibilities like availability of oxygen, medicines, sampling, home isolation, integrated control room, sanitisation, corona vaccination and ambulance, among others. Sharma said that for any problem, the Covid control room helpline number 18004192211 can be called. Patients visiting the OPD of the district hospital in Sector 39 will not be allowed to park their vehicles near the residential area and will have to park them in the basement of the hospital. According to medical experts, the symptoms of the new sub variant are more or less similar to the previous variants of Omicron. People affected with the new variant are complaining of high fever, cough, sore throat, body ache, headache and cold. Since April 1, Noida has reported 271 cases. Of the 271 infections, 52 cases were recorded on April 8, 62 on April 7, 56 on April 6, 47 on April 5, 66 on April 4, nine on April 3, 44 on April 2 and 28 on April 1. /IANS