NO FRESH COVID CASE IN LKO; UP LOGS ONLY 7

LUCKNOW : Uttar Pradesh witnessed the steepest decline in the number of fresh Covid cases with the state logging only seven new infections for the first time since the second wave surge while Lucknow saw zero fresh cases on Monday.

After May 6, 2020, this was the first time Lucknow saw zero fresh cases while the state’s active case count fell below 400, said an official statement.

“The number of fresh infections reported on Monday was just seven, making it the lowest daily case count of the state so far,” said the statement.

It added: “With this encouraging sign, the state’s recovery rate stands at a good 98.6%, testifying the success of UP’s Covid-19 Model of intensive ‘trace, test, treat, vaccinate’. Continuing the downtrend, UP has been maintaining the daily Covid test positivity rate (TPR) — the number of positive cases against the total tests done — at 0.01%, the lowest in the country. This rate was at its highest at 16.84 % on April 24 in UP and now remains even lower than the lowest post the first wave of Covid.”

High number of recoveries and a low number of fresh cases subsided the active caseload in

the state to 362, the statement said.

None of the 75 districts reported fresh cases of coronavirus infection in double-digits lately and as many as 69 districts reported no fresh cases in the last 24 hours, whereas six reported new cases in just single digits, it said.

Lucknow had reported its first Covid case on March 11, 2020. The maximum cases surfaced on April 16, 2021 when Lucknow reported 6,598 in a single day. “On an average, Lucknow is testing over 14,000 Covid samples every day. Till now, over 49 lakh samples have been tested,” said Dr Manoj Agrawal, chief medical officer, Lucknow.

“Till now, Lucknow has reported 2,38,672 Covid cases. The recovery rate is 98.87%,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors. There were 26 active cases under treatment in Lucknow.

Experts said Covid protocol should be given utmost priority despite steep fall in fresh cases. “People from other states are traveling to UP. We need to give top priority to Covid protocol to ensure infection does not spread,” said Dr Sandeep Kapoor, director, Healthcity hospital.