389 fresh cases, 18 more die in UP

LUCKNOW : The state on Tuesday reported 389 fresh Covid cases, taking the tally to 11,335, including 3,093 migrant workers, according to official data.

With 18 more deaths, the total number of fatalities reached 301 since the Covid-19 outbreak.

“So far, 6,669 patients have been discharged, including 325 today (Tuesday). The number of active cases in Uttar Pradesh is 4365 now,” said Dr Vikasendu Agrawal, state surveillance officer in the health department.

A spike in coronavirus cases was witnessed in Ghaziabad (41), Gautam Buddha Nagar (28), Rampur (17), Jaunpur (16), Kanpur (15), Lucknow (14) and Amethi (12). Jhansi and Sonbhadra reported 10 cases each. No fresh case was reported in Pratatapgarh, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Shamli, Sitapur, Balrampur, Mau, Banda and Lalitpur.

Additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said the lockdown was implemented strictly across the state and asymptomatic corona patients were kept in hospitals that checked the spread of the infection. The CM directed the officers that all precautions should be taken during the unlock along with ensuring adequate treatment of coronavirus patients, he said.

He said chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed officers to conduct special surveillance in hotspots and ensure doorstep supply of essential commodities.

Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said maximum cases were being reported in urban hubs of the state. He said locality surveillance committee, local bodies, municipal corporations, district health teams and voluntary organizations had been alerted to check the spread of the infection.

Prasad said 4,482 patients had been kept in isolation wards while 7,736 patients were in facility quarantine. On Monday, 12,666 samples were tested. Through pool testing, 965 pools of 5 samples each and 89 pools of 10 samples each were tested. Among the patients admitted to isolation wards 115 were on oxygen support and nine on ventilator support. The ASHA workers had screened 14.28 lakh migrant workers who were in home quarantine and samples of 1,300 migrants who had Covid symptoms had been sent for test.

He said 1.12 lakh teams were engaged in surveillance work in the state which surveyed 85.85 lakh houses in 1,502 areas and screened 4.37 crore people.