Uttar Pradesh: Highest single-day spike of 1,155 cases takes tally to 28,061

LUCKNOW: Scaling a new high, novel coronavirus affected 1,155 persons in UP in the past 24 hours. With this, the total number of Covid cases in the state reached 28,061.
Of the 75 districts in the state, 26 recorded cases in double digits. Six districts in the Meerut division, including Ghaziabad (182), Gautam Budh Nagar (118), Bulandshahr (37), Meerut (32), Baghpat (25) and Hapur (25), accounted for over one-third (419) of the total cases.
Districts that reported more than 25 cases, included Prayagraj (53), Kanpur Nagar (48), Mathura (43), Varanasi (38), Kasganj (34), Jaunpur (33) and Mirzapur (26).
The state also recorded 12 deaths, taking the overall death toll to 785. According to the state health bulletin, three deaths were reported in Kanpur Nagar, while two each were reported in Mathura and Etawah. Lucknow, Saharanpur, Firozabad, Pratapgarh and Jhansi recorded one death each.
Health officials stated that 607 recoveries took place in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of people recovered so far to 18,761.
Addressing reporters, additional chief secretary, home and information, Awanish Awasthi said: “The total number of active infections in the state is 8,161 of which nearly 2,000 are in the NCR districts.”
Attributing the surge in cases to increasing number of tests in state, he said: “The average number of tests done these days is 27,569. In the past 24 hours, 29,567 tests were undertaken. We are sure that they will be able to achieve the 30K target set by CM very soon.”
He stated that 11 labs in the state were taking over 1,000 tests each day with King George’s Medical University and Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science performing 3,579 and 2,148 tests respectively. Besides, as many as 2,703 antigen tests and 1468 TruNat tests were also done in the past 24 hours.