Lucknow records spurt in Covid-19 cases, 166 infections in last 24 hours

Lucknow has reported a massive spike in Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, health officials said.

At least 166 more people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the state capital while 102 patients recovered from the infection in the past 24 hours, taking the active caseload beyond 816.

The rise in Covid-19 cases this month has also led to an increase in the case positivity rate (CPR) or the number of samples testing positive per 100 samples tested.

The Uttar Pradesh Health department is worried as from 1. 1 in the first week of June, the CPR reached 2. 4 in the second week and 5 in the third week.

Among the fresh cases, 29 were reported from Aliganj, followed by Alambagh (27), Chinhat (25), Kaiserbagh (19), Indiranagar (19), Sarojini Nagar (11), Old City (7) and Gudamba (1).

According to the Health department spokesman, "While 32 patients had influenza-like illness, 30 had come in contact with infected patients, five were patients who tested positive in routine check-up before admission and 21 had travel history. The source of infection in the rest of the patients could not be ascertained."

The state government has intensified testing and random testing has begun to assess the prevalence of Covid-19.

Hospitals have been directed to make sure Covid rules are followed in OPD and overcrowding is avoided.

Chief Medical Officer Manoj Agrawal, said, "We are conducting around 7,000 tests daily. Swab samples of 50 contacts of a patient are being sent for testing. We should take the Covid threat seriously as the possibility of a fourth wave cannot be denied. The Health department is ready for all circumstances."

District Surveillance Officer Milind Vardhan said there is no need for panic, but all must take precautions, particularly people with comorbidity as well as the elderly.

Meanwhile, as many as 636 new Covid-19 cases and 468 recoveries have been reported from across different districts of Uttar Pradesh in the past 24 hours.

Health officials also informed that the number of active cases in the state reached 3,423.

They said that the number of new and active cases have doubled in the past one week.

More than half of the new and active cases (over 51 per cent) are concentrated in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Lucknow and Ghaziabad while 31 per cent of the cases belong to the NCR districts of Gautam Buddha Nagar and Ghaziabad.

--IANS

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