50% new Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh from seven districts

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed health officials to work towards bringing down the case positivity rates in Lucknow, Prayagraj and Ghaziabad. In addition to this, the CM said surveillance in Kanpur, Gautam Budh Nagar, Varanasi and Meerut must be increased.
According to the official bulletin, nearly 50% of the fresh cases reported across the state in the past 24 hours were from the seven aforementioned districts.They also account for the major chunk of active infections in the state. In all, 1,539 new cases took the state’s tally to 5,70,799 on Thursday.
After a gap of almost two weeks, the number of recoveries reported in 24 hours was less than the new cases. The total number of recovered patients however reached 5,44,503, including 1,159 new entries.
Higher number of new cases reflected on the state’s overall recovery rate which dipped marginally from 95.5% earlier over the week to 95.3% on Thursday.
As many as 18 persons succumbed to complications caused by the pandemic infection which took the total number of deaths to 8136.
Reviewing the Covid-19 situation, the CM also told officials to ensure that testing and contact tracing remained in the top gear. “The average number of 1.5 lakh tests per day must be maintained under all circumstances,” the CM told officials.
Later, additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad, said that the progress of work on vaccination campaign was going on in full swing but he reiterated the importance of prevention.
“Till the vaccine arrives and everyone gets it, it is important to keep any kind of trouble away. And as of now, prevention protocol is the only way to keep coronavirus away,” he said.
ACS, information, Navneet Sehgal stated that the declining numbers reflected on the shrinking number of containment zones as well. Reminding that the pandemic virus could easily upset lives, he urged people to follow preventive norms.