The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday claimed its strategy of sealing the coronavirus hotspots in 15 districts was proving to be effective and other states were following it.
The containment policy adopted four days ago is being praised all over the country, Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Awasthi told newspersons here.
Some states have started following it and it has been found as effective by bigger states too.
A total of 329 COVID-19 cases have been reported from 125 identified hotspots in these 15 districts. As many as 2,942 people were identified as suspect cases of which 2,863 were quarantined in these areas, Awasthi said.
"The state's policy of concentrating on hotspots and targeting them strictly, has proved to be very effective and will help in checking the spread of the virus," he said.
Giving an account of the action taken in hotspot areas, he said 61 FIRs have been filed against people for flouting lockdown guidelines and most of them were in Bareilly and Ghaziabad.
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Awasthi said 2,428 Indians linked to Tablighi Jamaat have been identified and 2,231 of them have been quarantined.
Referring to the attack on a police team which has gone to seal an area in Meerut on Saturday to take a COVID-19 patient to hospital, he said the city magistrate has been injured in the incident and police have arrested three people.
He said foreign nationals linked to the Jamaat are in quarantine and 259 passports have been seized. Sixty-six of them are Nepalis, he said.
Awasthi said no one will be allowed to distribute food packets without informing the local authorities. "Some cases of irregularities in food packet distribution were reported from Lucknow and elsewhere Friday and FIR was lodged and arrests made.
Referring to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's stress on increasing the testing facilities, he said 10,398 tests were done Friday and 9,950 have turned out negative. The rest results are awaited.
Awasthi said those who have completed their 14-day quarantine have been instructed to remain in home quarantine for a few more days.
He also warned of strict action against those fleeing from quarantine.