Out of the total number of cases, more than 100 are directly or indirectly linked to Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area (Representational/AP photo)
The number of coronavirus-related deaths in Uttar Pradesh reached three on Sunday after tests confirmed that a 55-year-old man from Varanasi was infected with the virus before his death two days ago. The deceased has a travel history to Kolkata.
With this the number of total confirmed cases have reached 255. According to officials at Lucknow’s King George Medical University (KGMU), 16 fresh samples have tested positive in their lab, including seven admitted at Balrampur Hospital in Lucknow, three each at Lakhimpur Kheri and Agra, two in Rae Bareli and one at Banda.
Among all the confirmed cases so far, 21 patients have been discharged: eight each from Agra and Noida, three from Ghaziabad, and one each from Lucknow and Kanpur. The other two deaths in the state have been reported in Basti and Meerut.
“First coronavirus-related death has been confirmed in the district. The 55-year-old man was admitted at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) hospital. He has a travel history to Kolkata and he died during treatment on Friday night. His report was found positive on Sunday morning. We are now identifying all those who might have come in contact with the person. All of them will be kept in institutional quarantine and will be tested,” said Varanasi Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr BB Singh. The man had high blood pressure and he returned from Kolkata on March 15, according to sources.
Meanwhile, out of the total number of cases, more than 100 are directly or indirectly linked to Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. Earlier, Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi told the media that 1,302 people have been identified in the state with links to the Tablighi Jamaat and 1,000 of them are in institutional quarantine. A total 306 of them are foreigners, and after registering 36 FIRs, passports of 228 have been seized.
Of the total 1,302 people, 307 are in Meerut, 242 in Varanasi, 83 in Lucknow, 115 in Agra, 148 in Bareilly, 230 in Gorakhpur, 70 in Noida, 33 in Kanpur and 51 in Prayagraj. According to Awasthi, the highest number of foreign nationals with Tablighi connection is in Meerut (169), followed Varanasi (27) and Bareilly (25).