A worker at a fruit shop at the Naveen Galla Mandi in Lucknow on Thursday, after the UP government changed the limited sale timings — from day to late night hours — in order to discourage large gatherings of general buyers.
AS THE number of corona positive cases in the state is continuously increasing and crossed 1,500 by Thursday, the hotspot districts that earlier brought the number to 1,000 are showing a flattening of the curve while newer hotspot districts are emerging in the state.
This comes at a time when, raising concern for the state government, at least seven districts which did not have any coronavirus positive cases before, were added in the list in the past five days. Three of these districts — Shrawasti, Bahraich and Balrampur – were added in the list in last 24 hours. At present, the number of such districts stands at 56 in the state. However, 11 districts out of the 56 have managed to be corona free — and five among them achieved this is last five days.
With the exception of Agra – which is still adding up to the state total almost every day, but has a lesser increase rate than before – the earlier hotspot districts of Noida, Lucknow and Meerut are showing clear signs of infection containment. At the same time, in the past five days during which the number the number of total cases in the state reached from 974 to 1510, the districts of Moradabad, Kanpur, Firozabad, Saharanpur, Rae Bareli, and Amroha have emerged as the new hotspots.
Looking at the data, on April 8 Noida had 62 positive cases which increased to 95 cases (addition of 28 cases) in next 10 days till April 18. However, in the next five days, ending Thursday, only eight cases were added in the district, taking the number to 103 till date. Noida also has the highest number of recoveries as more than half of the patients (54) have already been recovered and discharged. With this, the number of active cases (49) in the district is less than the number of patients discharged.
Similarly in Lucknow, 134 cases were added in the given 10 days – as the Sadar area of the district emerged as the biggest hotspot in the state with more than 100 cases connected to the area – and only 11 cases in the next five days. In Meerut, the state data recorded 35 cases till April 8, and another 35 cases were added in the next 10 days, taking the total number of cases to 70. However the district started recovering and in next five days recorded just 15 cases.
On the other hand, cases in Moradabad reached from 39 cases on April 18 to 97 cases on April 23. Before that, the district had a single case on April 8. Moradabad also has the second highest number of corona related deaths (five) following seven deaths from Agra. In Kanpur 66 cases were recorded in last five days in comparison to 22 cases recorded over a period of 10 days before that. A similar pattern was recorded in Firozabad which added 31 cases in 10 days starting April 8 and then jumped by 28 cases in the next five days.
The biggest surprise came from Rae Bareli, which for a very long time had just two cases and was close to becoming corona-free when suddenly 41 cases were added in just last three days as a bunch of people connected to the Tablighi Jamaat kept under institutional quarantine were tested positive. Another such newer hotspot district is Amroha which had no positive case on April 8 and recorded its first ten cases in next ten days. However, making a significant jump it recorded 13 more cases in next five days.
Earlier in day, Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said said that in between all this the number of patients who are being discharged after their recovery – 206 – is continuously increasing, which is sign of relief. The number crossed the mark of 206 as 33 patients were declared recovered and were discharged Thursday.
“We are making all efforts to provide proper and timely treatment to the patients by our three-tier architecture. With three more districts recording their first positive cases, the number of districts which have registered coronavirus infection has reached to 56 by Thursday. The districts with active cases however are 45, as 11 of these districts are now corona free. The total number of active cases in the state stands at 1280 till Thursday evening,” said Prasad, adding the the number of testing has also increased in the state.
The 206 patients discharged include 54 from Noida, 31 from Meerut, 18 from Agra, 14 from Ghaziabad, nine from Lucknow, eight from Sitapur, seven from Kanpur, six each from Varanasi, Bareilly, Pratapgarh and Maharajganj, five from Ghazipur, four each from Lakhimpur Kheri, Jaunpur, Hathras and Rampur, three each from Azamgarh and firozabad, two each from Pilibhit, Shamli, Bulandshahr, Hardoi and Kaushambi, and one each from Moradabad, Shahjahanpur, Barabanki and Prayagraj. The districts which have corona-free are Pilibhit, Lakimpur Kheri, Hathras, Prayagraj, Bareilly, Maharajganj, Shahjahanpur, Barabanki, Hardoi, Kaushambi and Pratapgarh.
“Yesterday we have sent 3,737 samples from different districts and the labs in state have done a record testing of 3,955 samples, resulting in us clearing the backlog. We are also doing better in the pool testing and four of our labs – KGMU Lucknow, SGPGI Lucknow LLR Medical College Meerut and Saifai Medical College – did pool testing yesterday. Total 812 samples were tested in pool. Moreover, 1,584 patients are in isolation wards and those in institutional quarantine are 12,032 in number. The state has 16,869 quarantine beds and more than 10,000 isolation beds,” he added.
With one more coronavirus-related death reported in Kanpur number of such deaths in the state has reached 23 in the state. This the third deaths reported in the district. According to Kanpur DM Brahm Dev Tiwari, the 73-year-old man was the father of a corona positive patient and he died on Tuesday before his test was conducted. “The man had heart problems and the same day his son was tested positive he started having health problems. The man died on his way to the hospital and later he was tested positive of the coronavirus,” said Tiwari.
Of the fresh cases reported, eight from Bahraich district which did not have any positive case. Creating problems for the district administration, the eight cases reported are all from different places and at least six hotspots have been identified in the district on Thursday.
“Eight positive cases have been recorded in the district. Among these is a lady who had been to Ghaziabad for her treatment and returned before the second phase of the lockdown on April 14. We are tracing her contacts. Another is a migrant worker from Kushinagar who was returning from Punjab and entered the district around the same time. Two others are from Nepal who sneaked into the district before the phase 2 of lockdown. Another one had gone to Lakhimpur, without the knowledge of the authorities, at his in-laws place,” said Bahraich DM Shambhu Kumar.
“While the woman was under home isolation, the one from Kushinagar was under institutional quarantine. The man from Nepal was kept in a shelter home as he was stuck here in the lockdown. Even rest of the patients are people who had went to other districts and sneaked inside. All these were asymptomatic and samples were sent as we kept coming to know about them. So far we he have announced six hotspots. Contact tracing and sanitization is going on at war footing. Health department teams are also going to each house in the hotspots. Sampling is also intensified. So far we have sent around 350 samples in which report of 78 came yesterday at once. These entire eight positive were in that bulk,” said the DM.
Earlier in the day an emergency meeting was called by the DM to discuss the situation and make a detailed plan. The other two districts that recorded their first cases — three in Shrwasti and one in Balrampur — are neighboring districts to Bahraich.