Lucknow, Kanpur drive 20% Covid surge in August

LUCKNOW: While Covid-19 cases clocked a 63.7% jump in August over a 30-day span, state capital Lucknow remained the biggest contributor to the high pandemic count in the monsoon month.
State health department data showed over 13% (19,250) of 1,46,709 Covid cases reported in August were from Lucknow alone. Kanpur followed with 9,770 or 6.7% of the tally.The two cities account for onefifth of Covid cases in August. Data also showed Lucknow added an average of 621 cases every day in August while Kanpur’s daily average was 315. The two districts also account for 23% pandemic deaths in UP. Alarmed over the soaring graph, the CM directed stakeholder departments to study the situation in the two cities.
“In the meeting of Team 11, the chief minister directed officials to conduct a micro-analysis of the Covid-19 situation in Lucknow and Kanpur. He suggested an action plan after the micro-analysis to check cases and prevent deaths,” said additional chief secretary home and information, Awanish Awasthi.
He added the CM directed officials to prepare a team of specialist doctors in Lucknow to impart their expertise on digital platforms. “The CM also directed intensive contact tracing, door-todoor survey and surveillance to keep a tab on pandemic spread,” he said. A comparative analysis of UP’s situation vis-à-vis India revealed over 7.3% of 19,87,705 cases reported in the country in August were from UP. Additional chief secretary health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad, said, “Despite the Covid spurt in August, UP’s case positivity remained well within the range of under 5% -- it was 4.6% to be precise.”
Case positivity rate (CPR) refers to the number of persons testing positive among those tested. “CPR of Kanpur (12.3%), Gorakhpur (12.2%), Lucknow (11.5%), Maharajganj (9.2%) and Deoria (8.3%) remained high while it was lowest in Hamirpur (1.3%), Sambhal (1.2%), Hathras (1%), Mahoba (0.8%) and Baghpat (0.7%),” Prasad stated.