State’s infection rate lower than country’s

LUCKNOW: The daily Covid-19 infection rate in Uttar Pradesh stood at 2.87% against the national infection rate of 4.61%, a senior state government official said on Wednesday. Besides, a record 13,264 samples were tested in laboratories across the state on Tuesday, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The total number of tests had touched the four lakh (400,000) mark since start of the Covid pandemic, he added.

Prasad since the return of migrant workers began in March-end, the state health department tested samples of 98,078 migrants in laboratories in various districts and 3,185 were found positive for the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen.

Over 30 lakh migrant workers have returned to UP so far and they are being screened in all the districts, where samples are also being collected.

ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers screened 14.72 lakh migrant workers who were in home quarantine, he said. From among them, samples of 1400 migrants with Covid-19 symptoms were sent for tests.

As merely 20% of the migrants tested positive, this clearly showed that after an initial surge with the arrival of migrant workers, the coronavirus infection was not spreading in the rural areas, he said.

Nevertheless, people should realise that danger of infection had not gone with the resumption of activities under Unlock -1, he said. Rather the danger of infection increased with the movement of people by flights, trains and road, he said.

Markets, offices and commercial establishment had opened. As there was no vaccine for treatment of the coronavirus infection, prevention was only option for people and they should follow Covid guideline issued by the government strictly, he said.

Additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said the number of the hot spots in the state had increased to 2,060. All hot spots were sealed to check the spread of the infection.

Only health teams, security personnel, sanitisation staff and home delivery people would be permitted in the hot spots, he said.