Uttar Pradesh records 5,809 new coronavirus cases, tally at 354,275

The death toll from COVID-19 crossed the 5,000-mark in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday with 94 more fatalities while 5,809 fresh cases pushed the infection tally to 3,54,275, officials said.

The new deaths brought the fatality count to 5,047 in the state, while the number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 65,954, they said.

Briefing reporters here on Sunday, Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said 5,809 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in the state.

Thirteen of the new deaths linked to the infection were reported from Kanpur, followed by 7 in Prayagraj and 6 in state capital Lucknow. Four fatalities each were reported from Meerut, Jhansi and Deoria, while three deaths each were reported from Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Saharanpur, Barabanki, Unnao and Bijnor, the Uttar Pradesh government said in a bulletin issued here.

Of the fresh novel coronavirus cases, state capital Lucknow reported 874 cases, followed by 394 in Kanpur and 302 in Prayagraj. Meerut recorded 230 new patients, while Gorakhpur reported 210 cases.

A total of 2,83,274 patients have recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals, Prasad said, adding that the COVID-19 recovery rate of the state stands at 79.96 per cent.

He said 6,584 patients have been discharged from hospitals in the past 24 hours after recovering from COVID-19.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday inaugurated Unified COVID-19 portal (https://labreports.upcovid19tracks.in/) through which people can access their COVID-19 test report.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said the chief minister has directed the officials to increase the number of beds in Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Gorakhpur. Instructions were also issued to strengthen contact-tracing, he said.