Uttar Pradesh reports 8,737 new coronavirus cases, 255 deaths on May 18

Uttar Pradesh, which recently saw a spurt in COVID-19 infections, is now witnessing a slide in fresh cases with 8,737 new cases being reported on Tuesday taking the statewide tally to 16,37,663, a senior government official said.

The state reported 255 fresh deaths taking the COVID-19 toll to 18,072, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said.

The number of active cases has also come down to 1,36,342, he said, while adding that a total of 14,83,249 people have so far recovered and have been discharged from hospitals bringing the recovery rate in the state to 90.60 per cent.

Among the active cases, 99,891 are in home isolation, he said.

Of the fresh deaths recorded in the state, Meerut reported the highest with 20 deaths followed by Lucknow 19 and Kanpur Nagar 12, Saharanpur 11 and Agra 10 along with others, a health department bulletin said.

The highest number of fresh cases have been reported from Lucknow with 502 followed by Meerut 453, Saharanpur 374, Gautam Buddh Nagar 345, Muzaffarnagar 337, Varanasi 322, Gorakhpur 295, Ghaziabad 289 and Baghpat 238 among others, the bulletin said.

On Monday, over 2.79 lakh tests were performed, Prasad said, adding that UP has become the first state to conduct over 4.50 crore tests with the latest addition.

The senior official said continuous work is on to check the spread of the virus in the rural areas with the 'gram nigrani samitis' actively working in this direction.

The teams of the department have reached 89,512 village so far and infection has been detected in 21,742 villages. Almost 68 per cent villages have been found safe of the virus, Prasad claimed.

The cases have been on a downward trajectory over the past 18 days after recording a peak in the state on April 30 while the positivity rate has also come down, Prasad added.