Covid-19 claims 159 more lives in UP, tally of cases rises by 2,402

The COVID-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh crossed 20,000 on Friday with 159 more people succumbing to the disease in a day, while the infection tally reached 16,86,138 with 2,402 new cases, officials said on Friday.

The recovery rate in the state is now stood at 95.7 per cent, while there are 52,244 active cases, which include 38,055 patients who are in home isolation, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said.

The number of active cases has come down by 83 per cent since April 30 when a peak of 3,10,783 such cases was reported, he said.

"In the last 24 hours, 2,402 fresh cases of COVID-19 were reported taking the total number of cases to 16,86,138, while 8,145 patients recuperated from the disease which pushed the cumulative recoveries to 16,13,841," he said.

The death toll in the state reached 20,053 with 159 more people dying of COVID-19 in a day, according to a health bulletin issued here.

Among the fresh deaths, the maximum 12 were reported from Agra, 10 from Meerut, nine each from Jhansi and Lucknow, eight each from Etah and Gorakhpur, and seven from Allahabad, it said.

State capital Lucknow reported 172 new cases, Saharanpur 154, Meerut 121, Gorakhpur 116, Varanasi 89, Ghaziabad 94, Muzaffarnagar 74 and Gautam Buddh Nagar 53.

So far, 4.84 crore samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state of which over 3.58 lakh were examined in the last 24 hours.

Over 1.73 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the state so far. Of this, 1.39 crore beneficiaries have taken the first dose and 34 lakh people have taken both doses, Prasad said.