Over 4,000 cases, 40 deaths in last 24 hours: Another UP minister tests positive

He is the fourth Cabinet minister to test positive for Covid. Earlier, Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh and Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh had tested positive. Technical Education Minister Kamal Rani Varun had succumbed to the novel coronavirus on Sunday.

Besides, state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh has also been found infected with the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh recorded a total of 4,154 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to over 1.04 lakh. The death toll increased to 1,857, with the state reporting 40 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours.

After several days, Lucknow saw a slight dip in the number of fresh cases. The Capital reported 336 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Lucknow had reported 507 and 611 cases on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

The Capital did not report any deaths on Wednesday and its total fatality figure stood at 124 — the second highest in the state after Kanpur Nagar (234) which reported six deaths in the past 24 hours.

Kanpur Nagar also recorded the highest number of fresh cases on Wednesday — 459 — taking its total Covid count to 6,922. The district has second-highest active cases at 4,176.

Prayagraj reported another high — 204 new cases, followed by Ghaziabad (139) and Varanasi (131), Ballia (128), Bareilly (126), Jalaun (123), Jaunpur (112), and Gorakhpur (100).

Besides Kanpur Nagar which reported six deaths — the highest — Varanasi, Jhansi and Lalitpur recorded three deaths each, while Prayagraj, Chandauli, and Bareilly reported two deaths each.

The state’s case-fatality rate dropped further to 1.78%.

Meanwhile, the state recorded its highest single-day recovery.

At least 3,287 people were discharged from hospital, following their recovery. Till Wednesday, 60,558 people have recovered with a recovery rate of 58%.

The total number of active cases as on Wednesday stood at close to 42,000 with Lucknow and Kanpur Nagar constituting 20% of them. Prayagraj has at present 1,760 active cases, followed closely by Varanasi with 1,702 and Bareilly 1,682.

With Inputs From PTI