UP records highest single-day spike of 34,379 COVID-19 cases, 195 deaths

LUCKNOW: A record single-day spike of 34,379 COVID-19 cases and 195 fatalities pushed Uttar Pradesh's infection tally to 9,76,765 and the death toll due to the disease to 10,541, the state government said on Thursday.

As many as 16,514 patients recovered from the disease in the state in a span of 24 hours, taking the total count of recoveries to 7,06,414, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said here.

On Wednesday, the state registered 33,214 cases of viral disease and 187 deaths.

Uttar Pradesh now has 2,59,810 active cases of the infection, of which over two lakh are in-home isolation, Prasad said.

Earlier, at a review meeting here, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to make oxygen concentrators available to districts from where demands have come and sought support of the Centre for its availability, an official statement said.

The chief minister termed the death of any person in the state unfortunate and directed the officials to give due honour to the aggrieved families and ensure cremations follow COVID-19 protocols.

Adityanath further said the availability of essential medicines and oxygen was satisfactory and asked the officials to keep an eye on the situation.

"There is no shortage of tankers/cylinders but keeping in mind the changing situation, additional tankers and cylinders should be arranged, and it should be ensured that there is no black-marketing of oxygen and other medicines," he added.

The process of setting up oxygen plants in private medical colleges should be done fast, the chief minister said.

He directed officials to ensure transparency in allotment of beds in hospitals, and asked them to arrange transport facilities for migrant labourers and also to see that they are kept in quarantine centres for at least seven days.