UP: 5,540 coronavirus cases added in 14 days at 5% rate

Notably, migrant workers had constituted a bulk of caseload in the last two weeks of May as they returned in the state in hordes.

The recent spurt in infection is being witnessed in mainly three districts – Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida), neighbouring Ghaziabad, and Kanpur Nagar. The three districts have added over 21 per cent of the total caseload this month with 540 cases in Noida, 336 in Kanpur Nagar and 303 in Ghaziabad in the last two weeks.

Kanpur Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Ashok Shukla said, “There have been recent instances, where one person has infected as much as 80 people. While we had two different case peaks in the past in the district caused by different reasons, the current surge is because of movement of people following the easing of the lockdown. Another important thing is that earlier it was easier for us to trace and track the infection. Now it is becoming extremely difficult. During lockdown, there was limited movement of people and they remembered every single place they had visited or the people who had come in contact with them. Now, they are not able to tell everything.”

Officials of Noida and Ghaziabad districts have also blamed the spurt in infection in their districts to the movement of people from Delhi. State Surveillance Officer Vikasendu Agarwal said that in Noida and Ghaziabad, the spillover from Delhi is adding to the caseload.

The cases in Noida was just three short of 1,000 on Sunday with 83 more cases added in the last 24 hours – Agra is the only district with over 1,000 cases.

Ghaziabad added 30 more cases, Lucknow 29, Jaunpur and Meerut 27 each, Bulandshahr 23, Kanpur Nagar 18, Aligarh 17, Agra and Barabanki 15 each, Gorakhpur 14, Hathras 13, Etawah 11, and Firozabad, Mathura and Farrukhabad 10 each.

The death count, meanwhile, reached 399 with 14 more deaths in the last 24 hours – 6 in Meerut, two each in Agra and Sambhal, and one each in Bulandshahr, Azamgarh, Rae Bareli and Hardoi. Agra has reported maximum deaths (64), followed by Meerut (58).

With the recovery of 8,268 patients, there are 4,948 active cases of infection.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday held a meeting with the newly appointed nodal officers for 11 districts – Agra, Meerut, Kanpur Nagar, Aligarh, Noida, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Firozabad, Bulandshahr, Jhansi and Basti — where higher number of fresh cases are being reported.

The CM directed the nodal officers to submit a report of the factors behind the spurt in infection and mortality rate in these districts within five days. The officers have been asked to make serious attempts to break the infection chain and control the spread. The teams have also been asked to focus on the surveillance system in these districts and the management of hospitals there.