New cases surge, 6 districts become free of fresh infection

Lucknow Chief Medical Officer Dr Narendra Agarwal said that all the 56 fresh cases in the district are linked to Tablighi Jamaat and its Delhi congregation in March.

Out of the 56, 47 were brought from Sadar area and hail from other districts of UP like Saharanpur and Shravasti or other states – Assam, Delhi and Rajasthan. “All the 47 people were kept under hospital quarantine,” the CMO added.

According to Station House Officer of Bakshi Ka Talab Police Station, Brijesh Singh, the 47 were a part of a group of 100 people who were brought from the Sadar area and had earlier tested negative. “But they were tested again before the end of their mandatory two-week quarantine period. This time, they however, tested positive. The way they keep violating social distancing norms, it is very much possible that even the rest are infected by coronavirus,” the SHO added.

The other eight new cases in Lucknow are from Naya Gaon and Topkhana areas of Lucknow, sources said.

In Agra, which is most affected by the contagion, the total cases reached 199 on Saturday. All the 27 new cases in the district are contacts of previous patients, health officials said.

In Ghaziabad, a 25-year-old woman who had undergone C-section during delivery two days ago, tested positive. While the mother has been shifted to an isolation ward, seven hospital staff members, including two doctors who performed the surgery, have been put under quarantine, CMO of Ghaziabad Dr Narendra Gupta said. Three family members of the woman have also been put under quarantine.

“The samples of the infant have also been sent for test. Both the mother and child is currently stable. We are tracing the source of infection,” Dr Gupta added.

Three more people, one in Noida and two in Greater Noida, tested positive, taking the cumulative cases in Gautam Buddh Nagar district to 95. “Three new cases have been detected. A 70-year-old woman from sector 15A in Noida and a 39-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman from Achheja village in Greater Noida have tested positive for the coronavirus,” District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said.

Achheja village had reported cases linked to the fire safety firm in Noida earlier.

Additional Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi, meanwhile, said that the rate of growth of new coronavirus cases in the state remained low as compared to the national average. Speaking to mediapersons during the daily briefing, he said, “Uttar Pradesh is in a good place in the national average. The growth rate and number of cases is low and so is the death rate.”

Till date, 14 coronavirus patients have died in the state. There was no report of any fresh death on Saturday.

However, in a major relief, six districts —Pilibhit, Prayagraj, Bareilly, Maharajganj, Lakhimpur Kheri and Hathras — are more or less “corona-free” with no active cases in the district currently.

“The best news that is coming for us is that slowly, after a lot of efforts, several districts are becoming corona-free. First it was Pilibhit district, then Maharajganj and Hathras. Now, Shahjahanpur is about to be corona-free. Prayagraj district is now free of coronavirus cases. Bareilly district has just one hotspot and the District Magistrate there has declared that the hotspot is not needed anymore as the patients’ test have confirmed negative. This is a good sign for the state,” Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said.

CM Yogi Adityanath, however, said that precautions will remain in place in the districts which have become free of coronavirus patients. “The lockdown in these districts should still continue without any relaxation,” the CM instructed officials.

Meanwhile, officials at Lucknow’s KGMU said that a 50-year-old patient from Bangladesh has recovered after two his consecutive tests reported negative for the virus. He has been sent to Sitapur from where he was brought. “The patient had diabetes and heart disease. The patient’s blood sugar was brought under control and ECG tests were also done. Today, he was discharged,” the KGMU said.

— With inputs from Amil Bhatnagar in Noida