70 districts in Uttar Pradesh report no fresh COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours

Lucknow: In a giant leap towards eradicating coronavirus, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday (November 20) witnessed the steepest decline in the number of fresh cases as the state limited the infections to 5, making it the lowest single-day tally.

Indicating consistent control over the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, out of the 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh, no fresh infections were reported from as many as 70 districts in the span of the last 24 hours.

The most populous state, in sharp contrast to major other states which are significantly lesser in terms of population such as Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu has been successfully taming the raging disease. Where the other states have been witnessing a greater surge of fresh COVID-19 infections (daily cases ranging from 10,000-2,000), Uttar Pradesh has restricted the daily-case count below 50 for over three consecutive months.

Consequently, Uttar Pradesh, pushing the COVID graph southwards, has maintained the daily COVID test positivity rate (TPR) — the number of positive cases against the total tests done — at 0.01 percent, the lowest in the country.

This rate was at its highest at 16.84 percent on April 24 and now remains even lower than the lowest post first wave of COVID-19.

Despite aggressive tracing and testing, Uttar Pradesh’s positivity rate — which shows the level of infections among people — has been registering a steady decline for several days indicating signs that the dangerous Covid wave is receding from the state, in contrast to which states like Kerala have failed to register any reduction and have a positivity rate of 10.5 percent.

The active caseload in the most populous state now stands at 100 which has been brought down by over a remarkable 99 percent from its peak capped at 3,10,783 cases on April 30.

With Highest Testing, Highest Recovery Rate and Lowest Test Positivity Rate, Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a clear winner in combating coronavirus as the state’s covid condition shows a healthier picture in comparison to all other states.

Implementing measures such as the intensive 'Trace, Test & Treat' and prevention through vaccination and Partial Corona Curfews to decimate the pandemic, the UP government worked with a multipronged approach to minimise its devastating impact.

Uttar Pradesh is rapidly moving towards being coronavirus-free as active and fresh COVID-19 cases in as many as 40 districts have declined to zero.

Uttar Pradesh has given out over 14.68 crore vaccine doses so far and that is no small achievement. The impressive pace of COVID vaccination has made Uttar Pradesh ‘the top state’ with the largest population in the country.

In addition, the state has also achieved the landmark of administering the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to over 71.01 percent of the eligible adult population. Over 4.21 crore people in the state have been fully vaccinated.

After successfully administering the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine rapidly, the government is also working at a war-footing to improve the second dose coverage in the state.

Giving priority to the full vaccination, the work of applying the second dose using the cluster model 2.0 is being done in those villages/localities where the first dose was successfully administered through the cluster model

UP has set an example in front of other states of the country, besides controlling the infection in a short time. On the other hand, Maharashtra lags with 10.6 crore doses delivered so far.