COVID-19 tests doubles in Uttar Pradesh in 20 days; total tests reach 12 lakh

The state government has set a target of conducting 50,000 tests in a day.

Coronavirus testing in UP: The number of Coronavirus tests in Uttar Pradesh are on a surge and in the last 20 days, the number of tests being conducted to confirm COVID-19 infection have doubled, according to a report by ANI. The state has conducted 12,31,939 tests for Coronavirus till now, the report quoted the National Health Mission (NHM) as saying. The data provided by NHM suggested that as of June 24, around 6 lakh tests were done. Another 6.28 lakh tests were conducted for the novel Coronavirus in the last 20 days.

Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) recently stated that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed all the officials to speed up the Coronavirus testing. He further said that the state government has set a target of conducting 50,000 tests in a day.

With the number of cases breaching 9 lakh in India, the number of COVID-19 infected people also crossed 40,000 and now accounts for 4 per cent of the overall cases in India. A report by the IE highlighted that the state also witnessed a surge of 1,656 new cases in the last 24 hours. Majority of these cases are from five districts in Uttar Pradesh– Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Jhansi and Lucknow. Some other districts where the number of positive COVID cases are coming from include Kanpur Nagar and Gorakhpur as well.

As a result, the state government has issued new directives to impose a total lockdown (mirroring the first phase of nationwide lockdown in March) in the state for weekends. Due to this lockdown, all markets, haats, and other business establishments in the state will be closed during the weekend. These places would open from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 9 pm. Government offices during the lockdown shall too remain closed. Only essential services will be allowed during the weekend.