UP reports 3,099 fresh Covid-19 cases, death toll stands at 6,353

The COVID-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh rose to 6,353 on Saturday with 60 more fatalities, while 3,099 fresh cases took the infection tally in the state to 4,33,712, officials said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases has seen a continuous fall and it has now come down to 40,210, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said.

Of these, 18,654 are presently in home isolation and 3,116 are in private hospitals, he said.

The number of those who have fully recovered from the infection and are getting discharged from hospitals has now risen to 3,87,149, taking the recovery rate to 89.26 per cent, he said..

So far, 6,353 people have succumbed to the virus, he said.

A health bulletin said Lucknow reported the highest number of 317 fresh cases followed by Prayagraj with 161 cases, Ghaziabad and Varanasi with 154 each and Meerut with 153 cases among others.

Eight deaths were from Lucknow on Saturday, four each from Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Meerut and Azamgarh and three from Prayagraj, the bulletin said.

Prasad said an analysis of over 6,000 deaths has found that 71 per cent of those who died were men and 29 per cent were women, while 63 per cent people who who died belonged to the urban areas and 37 hailed from rural areas.

He said 74 per cent were those who died had some kind of comorbidity.

Among those who have been infected by the virus till now, 9.4 per cent were people in the age group of 60 years and above but they comprised 45 per cent of the death cases, he said.

He said 13 per cent cases and 25.3 per cent deaths were among people in the age group of 51-60 years and stressed that special care and precaution was required for the elderly people.

Prasad said the state touched a new benchmark in sample testing with over 1.76 lakh tests done on Friday, taking the number of total tests done in the state so far to 1.17 crore.

Referring to a high level meeting held earlier in the day, he said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to identify high risk groups, extend better medical facilities and ensure that the infected persons having comorbidity are discharged only after they test negative.

He said October 15 is observed as "World Hand Wash Day" and the chief minister has asked officials to organise special programme on that day as it is helpful not only in checking coronavirus but also diarrhoea and dysentery.

He said the chief minister has also given directions for the proper conduct of PCS preliminary examination slated for Sunday.