UP: For third straight day, new coronavirus cases fall

Among the 23 new cases, 10 are from Agra, three each from Shamli, Basti and Firozabad, two from Bulandshahr and one each from Lucknow and Azamgarh.

Out of them, at least 20 are linked to Tablighi Jamaat —the total number of cases linked to Jamaat have now reached to 184 in the state (55% of the total 332 cases).

Agra Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Mukesh Kumar said: “Ten new cases have been reported in last 24 hours, taking the number of cases in Agra to 62. Out of the 10, at least eight are reported to have Tablighi Jamaat connection. With this, the total number of patients with Tablighi connection in the district has reached 40. The other new cases are contacts of patients with travel history.”

With fresh 10 cases, Agra has now become the district with the highest cases at 62. Noida (Gautam Buddh Nagar), which has been the biggest hotspot of coronavirus cases, has moved to the second spot with 58 cases. The district has not reported any new case for the past three days. A similar trend has been observed in neighbouring Ghaziabad district (23) as well.

“In the last 72 hours, there has not been a single positive case. So far, we have tested 442 samples and the positive cases stood at 23, out of which 3 have been discharged. We are expecting more patients being discharged in the coming days,” said District Magistrate of Ghaziabad, Ajay Shankar Pandey.

In another positive development, five more patients were discharged from the hospitals following their recovery. While three are from Lucknow, two are from Noida.

With this, a total of 27 patients in the state have recovered and been discharged. Those discharged included 10 from Noida, eight from Agra, five from Lucknow, three from Ghaziabad and one from Kanpur.

Lucknow’s King George Medical University (KGMU) spokesperson Dr Sudhir Singh said that the three patients, who were discharged on Tuesday, include a junior resident doctor, who was a part of the infection control team at the hospital but tested positive on March 18, and the brother of a Canada-returned doctor who had recovered last week.

Meanwhile, around 200 people from a JJ cluster in Noida’s Sector 8 were on Tuesday night taken to a quarantine facility as part of the district administration’s coronavirus contact tracing efforts.

“No new case has been found in the particular area; we have only traced possible contacts of a positive patient. Families are being quarantined and kept under observation for their welfare and that of their surroundings. I urge people not to believe in rumors; this is an exercise of cluster containment,” said Suhas L Y, Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate.

Officials said the “positive patient” whose contacts are being traced is an electrician from a fire safety firm which has now been sealed. Two of his family members have also tested positive.

The fire safety firm had come under scanner for hiding the visit of a British national last month, following which more than 20 cases emerged with links to the company. “It was a chain of sorts, from the fire safety firm’s employees and then their family members. Hence, quarantine measures are being taken,: said Dr Anurag Bhargava of the Gautam Budh Nagar Medical Department.