Covid-19: UP sees highest single-day spike, TN count crosses 50,000-mark

Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday reported 30 COVID-19 deaths — 15 in Meerut district alone — and 583 new cases of infection while Tamil Nadu said 2,174 people tested positive for Coronavirus

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday reported 30 COVID-19 deaths — 15 in Meerut district alone — and 583 new cases of infection, registering the highest single-day spikes on both counts, said an official officials said here. With this, the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the state rose to 465 and infected cases to 15,181, he said. Among the 30 new deaths, 15 occurred in Meerut, four in Ghaziabad, three in Agra and one each in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Varanasi, Hapur, Rampur, Mainpuri, Gonda, Bahraich and Bhadohi, an official bulletin said.

Among 465 deaths in the state till date, the maximum 77 occurred in Meerut, followed by 72 in Agra, it said.

Of the total infected people, 9,239 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals, leaving a total of 5,477 active cases in the state, said Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad.

He put the recovery rate in the state at around 61 per cent, adding a total of 16,159 tests, highest so far in a day, were conducted on Tuesday. "ASHA workers are tracking migrants, who have returned to the state, and have reached out to over 17 lakh of them. Altogether 1,485 of migrant workers were found symptomatic and their samples have been sent for testing," he said.

On Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's directives, general OPDS have been started in all Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres with all necessary COVIDrelated precautions, Prasad said, adding a detailed government order in this regard was issued on Tuesday.

"After getting general OPDS operational in PHCS and CHCS in a proper manner, a decision on starting them in district hospitals would be taken later," Prasad said, adding permissions have already been given for conducting surgeries and providing emergency and essential services in all district hospitals. Permissions have also been given to private clinics to start general OPD with certain conditions, he said.

Prasad also appealed to people to strictly follow socialdistancing and use face covers among various ANTI-COVID measures and to take proper care of the aged, pregnant women, children and those suffering from some disease. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday said 2,174 people tested positive for Coronavirus in the state over the past 24 hours.

In a statement, the state Health Department said a total of 2,174 persons tested positive for Coronavirus, taking the total tally to 50,193.

The total death toll too went up to 576.

The number of Covid-19 cured persons who have been discharged from various hospitals on Wednesday was 842 and the total tally at 27,624. The total number of active cases in the state stands at 21,990. The number of infected children in the state in the age group 0-12 went up to 2,533. State capital Chennai continued to head the Covid-19 infection table with 1,276 persons testing positive for the virus. Chennai's total tally of cases stands at 35,556.

A grant of Rs 9,000 crore to combat COVID-19 and its after effects, relief package to ease the burden on power sector and sanction of Rs 3,000 crore for medical equipment were among the demands made by Chief Minister K Palaniswami in a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. Outlining the various ongoing ANTI-COVID-19 initiatives, including those related to prevention, testing and treatment, Palaniswami said orders have been placed for 2.75 crore triple layer face masks, 38.85 lakh N-95 masks, 21 lakh PPE kits and 15.45 lakh RT-PCR testing kits.

The Prime Minister's interaction with chief ministers is to discuss the situation emerging post ‘Unlock 1.

0' and the plan ahead for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, and today is Modi's second day of discussion. As many as 123 government and 175 private hospitals have been notified to provide treatment for those infected and 3,533 ventilators have been made available, including 630 in the private sector, Palaniswami said.

“To ensure that Chennai is prepared to handle any surge of cases, 53 COVID Care Centres have been kept ready with 17,500 additional beds.

The manpower requirement is strengthened by additional deployment of doctors, nurses and health care workers in Chennai city,” an official release here quoted Palaniswami as telling the Prime Minister.

Also, he said: “Tamil Nadu may be allocated 9,000 crore rupees special grant for combating COVID-19 and its after effects on the States economy.” Palaniswami requested Modi to announce a relief package to ease the immediate burden on the power sector, which will help distressed electricity distribution entities (discoms).