Lucknow: As the novel coronavirus infection surges rapidly in Uttar Pradesh, it is now among the five worst Covid-affected states in India, behind Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
According to state government data as of Wednesday, UP has recorded 1.63 lakh cases so far. The number of active cases stands at 50,242 while 1.09 lakh people have recovered. The death toll is at 2,585.
Currently, Maharashtra is India’s worst affected state with 6.15 lakh cases and 20,687 deaths. Tamil Nadu has recorded 3.49 lakh cases and 6,007 deaths; Andhra Pradesh 3.06 lakh cases and 2,820 deaths; and Karnataka 2.40 lakh cases and 4,201 deaths.
In the last three weeks, UP has seen its Covid tally jump to double — from 81,463 cases on 30 July. The number of fatalities has increased by about 66 per cent — from 1,587 deaths.
According to the government, the number of cases has gone up because the testing has increased significantly.
Data shows UP has tested 39,66,848 Covid samples, with a positivity rate of about 4 per cent. In the last 24 hours, 4,336 new cases were reported from 93,774 samples.
Speaking to reporters in Lucknow Tuesday at the daily briefing, UP additional chief secretary Awanish Awasthi said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed authorities to increase the number of tests to about 1.25 lakh daily — this should include 75,000 to 80,000 rapid antigen tests in addition to 40,000 to 50,000 RT-PCR tests.
At the briefing, UP additional chief secretary (health) Amit Mohan Prasad said 8.98 people in 1.78 lakh houses have been covered under surveillance exercises in 61,081 areas in the state. So far, 62,443 Covid Help Desks have also been set up.
ThePrint reached UP Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh, who himself recovered from the infection last week, for a comment but there was no response until the time of publishing this report.
Lucknow and Kanpur worst hit, situation grim
Data shows that Lucknow is the worst Covid-affected district in Uttar Pradesh. Of all the active cases in the state, Lucknow has 7,170, or about 14 per cent. The city has registered 228 deaths so far.
After Lucknow, there are 4,305 active cases in Kanpur while Gorakhpur has 2,463 cases. With 2,182 active cases, Prayagraj is in the fourth position on the list, followed by Varanasi with 2,141 cases.
Until last month, the Agra model was being severely criticised but the situation has improved there. It has 312 active cases currently.
However, the situation in the state is so grim that after reports came of 20 state assembly staff being identified Covid-positive ahead of the Monsoon Session beginning Thursday, instructions have been issued to test all the MLAs for the virus.
Nine cabinet ministers have reported Covid infections so far, including the health minister and Rural Development Minister Rajendra Pratap Singh. Two ministers, Chetan Chauhan and Kamal Rani Varun, also succumbed to the virus.
Last week, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas president who attended the Ram temple ground-breaking ceremony in Ayodhya on 5 August along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Yogi, also tested Covid-positive.
Share of cases and hospital beds
According to the government data, men are getting infected more than women in Uttar Pradesh. Of the total Covid cases so far, 70.22 per cent are male and 29.78 per cent female.
Young people between the age of 20-40 have seen 49.34 per cent cases while 8.34 per cent infected people are above 60.
Currently, there are 1.50 lakh beds in various Covid dedicated hospitals in the state. The Level-1 hospitals have 1,23,460 beds while Level-2 and Level-3 hospitals have 15,812 and 12,490 beds, respectively.
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