Lucknow, March 30 With 19 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the tally of Corona positive cases in Uttar Pradesh has touched 82. Of the 19 new cases, 12 came from Meerut, four from Noida, two from Ghaziabad, and one from Bareilly.
This is the highest single day tally in the state.
Four persons tested positive in Noida alone which now accounts for 31 of the total cases in the state.
In a statement issued here, Joint Director-cum-State Surveillance Officer under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Vikasendu Agrawal said: "As many as 14 patients have recovered and discharged till now in the state, including seven in Agra, two in Ghaziabad, four in Noida, and one in Lucknow."
The total number of samples found positive in the state till now is 82.
The break-up of the total 72 cases in the state till now is Noida - 31, Agra - 10, Lucknow - 8, Ghaziabad - 7, Meerut - 5, two each in Varanasi, Bareilly and Pilibhit, and one each in Lakhimpur, Moradabad, Kanpur, Jaunpur, Shamli and Baghpat.
Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad had said: "The condition of Corona patients in the state is such that they do not require intensive care or need to be put on ventilators. Most of the cases are mild. The condition of all the patients undergoing treatment is stable."
Replying to a question on community transmission, Prasad categorically said there is no community spread (of COVID-19) in the state.
"All patients in UP can be traced back to a person who returned from abroad. In Noida, where people of a factory have been infected, all the case could be traced back to the UK," he said.
Prasad said people coming to UP from other places will be screened in their districts.
"If they are suspected of being a coronavirus carrier, they will be isolated in the hospitals, and asymptomatic people will be placed in quarantine facilities in schools, dharamshalas, etc. After they complete the quarantine facility term, they will be allowed to go to their villages," he said.
He also said facilities are being continuously ramped up in the state.
"We have already sent a proposal to purchase 200 additional ventilators and we will also be engaging private sector hospitals as and when needed," he added.
The official further said: "We are preparing a package for them. A number of private sector hospitals have approached us to treat COVID-19 patients and make their hospitals a COVID hospital. They will also be turned into dedicated-COVID hospitals. The patients of such private hospital will either be shifted or discharged."
Referring to the three-tier hospital system devised by the state government, Prasad said that every district will have L1 (level one) hospitals. This is ready, it will be located at the CHC, which has been made a dedicated COVID hospital. In some districts, the number of such hospitals is more than one.
He said that the L3 hospitals are super specialty hospitals like the 200-bed SGPGI Lucknow, KGMU Meerut and BRD Gorakhpur spread across the state and will be five to seven in number. Critical cases will be attended to in these hospitals, he stated.
( With inputs from IANS )