UP records biggest single-day jump of 496 COVID-19 cases; tally 9,733

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh recorded its biggest single-day jump of 496 COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the state's tally to 9,733, while 12 more people succumbed to the disease, a senior official said.

With the fresh deaths, the toll in the state has risen to 257, said Principal Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad.

There are 3,828 active cases in the state, while 5,648 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals, he said. Prasad said a helpline was launched on Thursday through which ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist), anganwadi and ANM (auxiliary nurse midwife) workers and private pharmacists can inform authorities about suspected coronavirus cases. "If anyone is buying medicines for fever and cough, private pharmacists can give information about them on the new helpline so that they can be tested and provided necessary treatment promptly," he explained. UP'S previous highest single-day spike of 378 cases was recorded on Sunday.

The fresh deaths were reported from Meerut and Ghaziabad (two each) and Agra, Gautambudh Nagar, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Auraiya and Chandauli (one each), a health department bulletin said. Of the 257 COVID-19 deaths reported so far in the state, Agra tops the chart with 48, followed by Meerut (34), Firozabad and Aligarh (16 each), Kanpur Nagar 13 and Moradabad 10 among others, the bulletin said. Among the fresh cases, 51 have been reported from Gautambudh Nagar, 48 from Kanpur Nagar, 41 from Jaunpur, 19 each from Ghaziabad and Bijnor, 18 from Lucknow, 17 from Azamgarh and 16 from Ghazipur, the bulletin said. At present, 4765 people are under isolation, Prasad said, adding that 12,589 samples were tested on Thursday.