With 14 fatalities, COVID-19 death toll climbs to 152 in UP; cases 5,735

With 14 fatalities and 220 fresh cases reported on Friday, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 152 in Uttar Pradesh, while the number of cases climbed to 5,735, officials said here.

"The total number of cases reported in the state so far is 5,735, including 3,324 who have been treated and discharged and 2,259 active cases. The death toll in the state has reached 152," a bulletin issued by the state health department said.

Among the positive cases, 1,361 are migrants coming from other states, it said. The figure was 1,230 on Thursday.

Of the 14 fresh deaths, five were reported from Agra, two each from Jaunpur and Ayodhya, and one each from Aligarh, Raebareli, Ambedkar Nagar, Maharajganj and Unnao, the bulletin said.

 

These were in addition to the 138 deaths reported till Thursday -- 28 from Agra, followed by Meerut (21), Moradabad (11), Aligarh and Kanpur (nine each), Firozabad (six), Gautam Buddh Nagar (five), Varanasi, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mathura and Jhansi (four each), Prayagraj and Gorakhpur (three each), Pratapgarh, Lucknow, Basti, Etah, Jalaun, Mainpuri and Ghaziabad (two each), Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Bijnor, Amroha, Bareilly, Shrawasti, Azamgarh, Kanpur Dehat, Mahoba, Kushi Nagar and Lalitpur (one death each).

Principal Secretary, Medical and Health Amit Mohan Prasad said, "Samples of 7,249 people were sent for testing on Thursday and 928 pools were also tested."

The infection percentage is higher among the migrant labourers, due to which the state government has asked them to strictly follow home quarantine. The "village and mohalla nigrani samitis" are keeping an eye on them, Prasad said, adding that in home quarantine, they have been asked to avoid coming in contact with elderly people, children and pregnant women.

Health workers have surveyed 6,58,982 migrant labourers and 764 of them have shown symptoms of coronavirus, he said.

"We are emphasising on surveillance and over 3.49 crore people have been surveyed by 87,141 teams in Uttar Pradesh," the official said, adding that the Centre's Aarogya Setu mobile application is being used to send alerts to people.

"We have made 29,010 calls on the basis of the alerts generated by the app," he said.

There are 78,500 beds in hospitals across the state and the number is being increased to over one lakh to ensure the treatment of every patient, the official added.