UP’s Covid tally crosses 7 lakh mark

With 13,685 fresh cases, the Covid tally in the state crossed 7 lakh mark on Monday—roughly two-and-a-half months after it crossed 6 lakh mark

With 13,685 fresh cases, the Covid tally in the state crossed 7 lakh mark on Monday—roughly two-and-a-half months after it crossed 6 lakh mark. However, the single-day number was less than Sunday’s 15, 353 cases in Uttar Pradesh.

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While the number of Covid positive cases was 7,05,619, the death toll reached 9,224 with 72 more fatalities, highest in a day this year so far, during the day. Now the total active cases in UP stood at 81,576—a rise by over 500% since April 1 when there were only 11,918 active cases.

“Of the total active cases in the state, 44,196 are in home isolation while remaining are at level two and level three Covid facilities,” said Amit Mohan Prasad, additional chief secretary, medical health, in a press conference on Monday.

Uttar Pradesh, which reported its first Covid case on March 2 last year, crossed one lakh mark on August 4, 2020 and two lakh mark on August 26, 2020. On September 12, 2020 the state Covid tally reached 305831 and on October 1, the state crossed 4 lakh mark. The 5 lakh mark was crossed on November 10, 2020. On January 1, 2021 state’s Covid tally crossed 6 lakh mark.

Meanwhile, Lucknow reported 3,892 fresh Covid cases on Monday, followed by Prayagraj 1295, Kanpur 716, Varanasi 1417, Ghaziabad 187, Gautam Buddh Nagar 239, Meerut 336, Gorakhpur 474, Bareilly 186, Jhansi 267, Moradabad 173 and Ballia 230.

Of the total deaths, Lucknow reported 21, Prayagraj 15, Kanpur 5, Gorakhpur 3, two each in Sonbhadra, Shahjahanpur, Jaunpur, Ayodhya, Barabanki and Muzaffarnagar and one each in Moradabad, Meerut, Ghaziabad and Varanasi districts, said the report from state health department.

State has tested 3,69,54,537 Covid samples till now, including 1,93,379 in the past 24 hours, which also included nearly 89,000 RT-PCR samples. “People should take utmost precaution to break the chain of infection whether they are vaccinated or not but following Covid protocol is necessary,” said Prasad.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said in view of the surge in Covid cases, the state health and family welfare department should carry out one lakh RT-PCR sample tests daily.

All the state government and private testing laboratories should work with full capacity, he said. At least 30 to 35 people, who have come in contact with an infected person, should be traced for the sample test, the CM added.