Coronavirus cases in UP cross 30k mark

Lucknow, Jul 8 () The number of coronavirus cases in Uttar Pradesh crossed the 30,000-mark on Wednesday as 1,188 fresh cases were reported in the state, with 18 new deaths in the last 24 hours.

Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said 31,156 people have tested positive for the disease in the state, he said.

So far, 845 fatalities have been reported, with 18 deaths in the last 24 hours, he said, adding that the total number of active cases now stand at 9,980, while 20,331 people have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals.

Testing for COVID-19 touched a new benchmark on Tuesday as 34,085 samples were tested in a single day. So far, over 10 lakh samples have been tested in UP, he said.

Referring to the ongoing door-to door screening in all divisions of the state, Prasad said so far the teams involved in this task have visited over 84.12 lakh houses and talked to over 4.29 crore people.

These surveillance teams are noting down details of COVID-19 symptoms, besides preparing a list of those with co-morbidities. The 10-day campaign began in the Meerut division on July 2 and other divisions of the state on July 5, he said.

Prasad said that the COVID helpdesks set up in the state have proved to be very useful for identifying people with symptoms.

Till now, a network of 34,314 helpdesks has been set up in the state which has identified 14,647 people with COVID-19 symptoms. Now their samples will be sent for testing, Prasad added. SAB AAR