700 cases in 24 hours, Uttar Pradesh corona tally touches 19,700

LUCKNOW: As many as 700 new cases, including 212 in NCR districts of Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar, were reported in 24 hours. This is the second highest spike in a single day reported so far. In the first one, 817 cases were reported on June 19. With the new cases, the Covid-19 tally for the state zoomed to 19,764 on Wednesday.
The state also recorded the death of 11 persons in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of deceased to 599.While two deaths each were reported in Meerut and Jhansi, one each was recorded in Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Moradabad, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Bulandshahr and Gonda.
Health officials said that the increasing numbers were the result of aggressive testing and surveillance. “The total number of tests conducted in the state so far reached 6.03 lakh, including 15,113 in the past 24 hours,” said additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad.
While steps were being taken to achieve the target of 20,000 tests per day, the state decided to launch the rapid antigen test. Health staff in NCR districts were trained by experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday and the use of the kits will begin from Thursday.
Prasad stated that in continuation with the targeted random sampling exercise in vulnerable pockets, health teams tracked and collected samples from workers at medical stores and health centres. The Covid bulletin revealed that the 470 persons were discharged from hospital, taking the total number of recoveries to 12,586. The number of active infections in the state as on date is 6,375.
As per the official Covid-19 data sheet, 34% of cases were reported from districts in Meerut division, including Ghaziabad (114), Gautam Budh Nagar (98), Meerut (19), Hapur (5) and Bulandshahr (3).
The other districts with double digit entries included Lucknow which recorded 73 cases, largest in a single day, Varanasi (30), Kanpur Nagar (27), Etawah (19), Chandauli (19) Azamgarh (18), Etah (18), Ghazipur (17), Deoria (16), Gorakhpur (11), Farrukhabad (11), Jaunpur (10), Amroha (10) and Jalaun (10).