Lucknow: The COVID-19 tally in Uttar Pradesh touched 61 on Saturday night with 11 new cases reported from different districts — the maximum number of cases reported in a single day so far.
According to the official sources, nine cases were reported in Gautam Buddha Nagar alone while one case each came in from Varanasi and Meerut.
The tally for Gautam Buddha Nagar has reached 27.
In an official statement, the government spokesman said, “Two of the new cases belong to the Accheja village in Dadri.”
The district administration has ordered sealing of the affected village and housing societies that reported COVID-19 cases.
The official order said, “The sealing has been imposed to undertake sanitisation activities as per the WHO and union health ministry’s protocols. In this 48-hour long period, no entry or exit from the society or the sector would be allowed, except in cases of emergency.”
Chief Medical Officer Meerut, Raj Kumar, said that the patient from Meerut is a 50-year-old man who lives in Shastri Nagar. He has been quarantined and his family has also been isolated. Samples of the immediate relatives have also been sent for testing.
Health officials said that tracking the contacts of this patient was tough.
“He had travelled from Amravati to Meerut in two trains — Amravati-Jabalpur Superfast Express and Chhattisgarh Express — to reach Meerut. In the city, he visited market area near the Sohrab Gate besides attending a wedding in the city. When he developed flu like symptoms, he went to several private doctors before finally getting admitted to the LLRM Medical College in Meerut,” said the officer.
Another coronavirus positive case was reported by the Institute of Medical Sciences Banaras Hindu University.
District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said, “The patient is a youth who returned from Sharjah on March 20 and was serving home isolation. He contacted district hospital on March 27 and has now tested positive.”
The list of man’s contacts includes his wife who had delivered a baby three days ago besides others.
“Samples of all his contacts will be collected on Sunday,” the district magistrate said.
Meanwhile, Principal Secretary Health Amit Mohan Prasad said: “Of the total patients admitted so far, 14 have recovered completely and have been discharged from hospital. The others are undergoing treatment at different government hospital or medical colleges.”
He also informed that coronavirus testing facility will be started at the State Medical College, Jhansi in a day or two. This will be the ninth lab in the state to be having the COVID-19 testing facility.
However, there was a relief for the state capital as all the samples that had gone for testing have been negative and no new cases of coronavirus were reported in the past 24 hours.
Ms Kalinga