LUCKNOW: The
Covid-19 surge continued to challenge the health system in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday with a record 12,787 fresh cases and 48 deaths in the last 24 hours.
With active infections crossing 50,000-mark, UP became the third biggest contributor of active cases in the country after Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
At present, UP is home to 4.6% of the total active case in the country.
Accounting for around 25% of new cases (4,059), Lucknow remained the core of viral activity. Also, almost half of the Covid-19 deaths were reported here.
The state capital also joined the list of districts in the country to have recorded over one lakh Covid-19 cases since the pandemic struck in March last year.
Other UP cities like Prayagraj (1,460), Varanasi (983), Kanpur (706) and Gorakhpur (422) added 25% cases to the day’s tally.
As many as 16 districts including Jhansi (235), Meerut (226), Gautam Budh Nagar (221), Ballia (188), Jaunpur (186), Muzaffarnagar (161), Ghaziabad (159), Bareilly (144), Ghazipur (140), Barabanki (139), Mathura (125), Rae Bareli (127), Basti (117), Sultanpur (106), Agra (104) and Mirzapur (101) recorded more than 100 cases each.
Calling for utmost precaution, additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said: “The situation is serious and people must avoid any unnecessary movement outside their homes. Special attention should be paid to elderly people and those with co-morbid conditions whether or not they have taken the vaccine.”
The new cases took the state tally to 6,76,739 while the number of deaths has gone up to 9,085.
The difference between new cases and recoveries continued to widen.
Only 2,207 patients recovered in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries to 6,08,853. The surge has increased the number of active infections to 58,801.