New Covid cases in Uttar Pradesh top 3k, active infections at 8.2k

“The positivity rate is consistently increasing like we are seeing across the country… However, fresh cases are not so high currently. The positivity rate has increased to 1.6 per cent. For the month of January, the positivity rate is 0.82 per cent,” Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said during the daily briefing.
On Wednesday, the state reported that 1.96 lakh samples were tested for Covid in the last 24 hours, out of which 1.19 lakh were done through RT-PCR.

“One death has been reported from Meerut. This person was admitted to a hospital for another disease, but incidentally, it was found that he had Covid,” he added.

The highest number of fresh cases were reported from Gautam Buddh Nagar (600), followed by Lucknow (408), Ghaziabad (382) and Meerut (401). Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoining Delhi, has the highest number of active cases (1,706), followed by Ghaziabad (1,180). With Lucknow and Ghaziabad on Thursday crossing the 1,000-active cases mark, the respective district administration announced more Covid-related curbs in the districts.

In Lucknow, which now has 1,153 active cases, swimming pools, gyms and water parks will be shut down with restaurants and movie halls allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity.

On Wednesday, 14.17 lakh doses of the vaccines were administered to people across the state, taking the percentage of people who have been administered at least one dose to 88.11 per cent of the state’s population above the age 18 years, while the percentage of adults who have been given both doses reached 51.63 per cent.

“The total number of children between 15-18 years who have been given the first dose of the vaccine is 7.85 lakh,” said a government spokesperson.