49 districts in UP reach ‘zero Covid’ status

Health experts said vaccination coverage, apart from Covid protocol including use of masks and social distancing adopted by citizens, has resulted in decline of Covid cases

LUCKNOW As many as 49 districts in Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, have attained ‘zero Covid’ status and the remaining 26 have 103 active Covid cases, according to the state health department.

UP has till now administered 39,04,93,214 doses of Covid vaccine, including 17,69,50,222 first doses and 16,87,88,334 second doses. (File Photo)

Districts that collectively have 103 active Covid cases, include Rae Bareli, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Kushinagar, Ambedkarnagar, Kanpur Dehat, Amroha, Etah, GB Nagar, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Kannauj, Sambhal, Siddharthnagar, Sitapur, Amethi, Bulandshahr, Fatehpur, Firozabad, Jalaun, Maharajganj, Pilibhit, Pratapgarh and Shahjahanpur. All these districts have Covid cases in single digit and the remaining 49 districts do not have any Covid case, said Dr Vikasendu Agrawal, state surveillance officer (SSO), Uttar Pradesh.

Despite no Covid case, the protocol remains the same and tests are being conducted for symptomatic patients reaching hospital, said health department officials in Lucknow.

The ‘zero Covid’ status is achieved when a district has three consecutive days with no new daily increases in infections. However, a district loses this status in case of even a single fresh case.

“The surveillance unit will continue its work and ensure contact tracing of any fresh Covid cases that may be reported. As Covid has yet not been eliminated, therefore protocol for hospitals remains the same for screening and testing suspected cases,” said Dr Nishant Nirvan, district surveillance officer in health department, Lucknow.

Health experts said vaccination coverage, apart from Covid protocol including use of masks and social distancing adopted by citizens, has resulted in decline of Covid cases. “With 100% eligible people (according to population and age data) getting a dose of Covid vaccine in Uttar Pradesh, a safety shield against the Covid infection was created that helped in checking the spread of infection,” said a senior health official.

UP has till now administered 39,04,93,214 doses of Covid vaccine, including 17,69,50,222 first doses and 16,87,88,334 second doses. In Lucknow, over 95,16,245 lakh doses of Covid vaccine have been administered. This includes 45,68,563 first doses and 40,20,197 second doses. The state has conducted 126304630 Covid tests since the pandemic began and is conducting over 25,000 tests daily.