Chipping in: A group of differently-abled children make masks at a shelter home run by a non-governmental organisation, Drishti Samajik Sansthan, in Lucknow.

Deaths due to novel coronavirus continued to rise as three more patients died on Wednesday while 69 fresh COVID-19 positive cases were registered. With this, the state has registered a total of 12 deaths and 729 positive cases. The state had recently scaled up its testing capacity to 2,000 daily.

So far, at least 57 patients, including seven on Wednesday, have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. Of the fresh recoveries, four are from Meerut, two from Bareilly and one from Moradabad.

According to the state government data, 17 per cent of the total patients belong to the 0-20 age group, 46.5 per cent to the 21-40 age group, 26 per cent to the 41-60 age group and the rest 10.5 per cent to the 60-plus age group.

The three patients — all with underlying medical conditions — were admitted to Agra, Moradabad and Lucknow. Hospitals. They were said to be in a critical condition before being tested positive.

Agra District Magistrate (DM) Prabhu Narain Singh said a 57-year-old man, who died late on Tuesday night, was admitted to SN Medical College on April 7. “The man had tested positive and died due to respiratory failure,” said Singh.

The Moradabad patient (76) was suffering from severe diabetes. The district recorded its first coronavirus related death on Monday. District Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr MC Garg said the patient, a resident of Sambhal, was admitted to a Level-2 coronavirus hospital in Moradabad for better treatment. According to data provided by the State Health Department, the man was among 17 people with Tablighi connection who had tested positive on Tuesday.

Lucknow reported its first coronavirus related death in the form of a 64-year-old patient admitted to the King George’s Medical University on April 11 with severe diabetes and breathing problem. KGMU spokesperson Dr Sudhir Singh said: “Because of diabetes, his kidneys were damaged. There was infection in his lungs. Soon after he was confirmed corona positive, he was kept in isolation where he needed a ventilator. Despite all the efforts, he could not be saved.” The patient died around 2.30 pm Wednesday.

Of the total 12 deaths, four are recorded in Agra, two in Moradabad and one each in Basti, Meerut, Varanasi, Bulandshahr, Kanpur and Lucknow. The recovered patients are 13 each from Meerut and Noida, 10 from Agra, seven from Ghaziabad, six from Lucknow, two each from Bareilly and Pilibhit and one each from Kanpur, Shamli, Lakhimpur Kheri and Moradabad.

Of the 69 fresh cases, 31 were from Lucknow, followed by eight from Kanpur city, seven from Agra, six each from Hapur and Firozabad, four from Meerut, two each from Moradabad and Basti, and one each from Bulandshahr, Sitapur and Amroha. One of the Moradabad patients is a doctor from public health centre.

Fifty-three of them, including 31 in Lucknow, have connection to the Tablighi Jamaat.

Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi told media that more than 58% (428) of the total cases had Tablighi Jamaat link and that the whole strategy to fight the COVID-19 revolved around Jamaat. “We have traced every person who participated in Tablighi or any other Jamaat,” he said.