19 more COVID-19 deaths in UP, toll 630; 750 fresh cases take virus count to 20,943

Lucknow, Jun 26 () Uttar Pradesh on Friday reported 19 more coronavirus fatalities, raising the toll to 630, while 750 fresh cases pushed the state's infection count near the 21,000-mark, a senior official said.

Three deaths were reported in Meerut, two each in Sultanpur and Etawah, one each in Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Firozabad, Basti, Gonda, Siddharth Nagar, Pratapgarh, Bareilly, Hardoi and Farrukhabad, an official report said here.

The state also recorded 750 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 20,943, Additional Chief Secreatry, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said.

He said 13,583 people have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the infection so far, leaving 6,730 active COVID-19 cases in the state.

The maximum 86 deaths have been reported from Agra, followed by Meerut at 79, it said.

Prasad said over 6.42 lakh samples have been tested for COVID-19 till now, of which a record 19,387 samples were examined on Thursday.

He said accredited social health activists (ASHA) workers have tracked over 18.69 lakh migrant workers who returned to the state and 1,643 of them were found symptomatic.

"Of the symptomatic people, 225 have tested positive and are undergoing treatment. The state government is emphasising on surveillance to check the spread of COVID-19 and break the chain of its transmission," Prasad said.

He said the chief minister has directed officials to use the COVID Care Fund for setting up coronavirus testing laboratories in every district of the state and to start rapid antigen tests as well. ABN AQS AQS