Covid: Yogi asks officials to keep strict vigil in Kanpur Nagar, Lucknow, Varanasi

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday directed officials to maintain a strict vigil in districts, including Kanpur Nagar and Lucknow, which are reporting a high number of COVID-19 cases.

He also stressed on conducting more tests for the disease in these districts which also include Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Ballia, an official statement said.

Adityanath said more than 85,000 rapid antigen tests should be conducted every day besides over 45,000 RT-PCR tests. The chief minister said better surveillance could control the fatality rate in the state and asked officials to regularly monitor the work of integrated command and control centres.

He also directed officials to make fertilisers available to the farmers in time and ensure there is no black marketing of it. He said action will be taken under the National Security Act against those found involved in black marketing of fertilisers, the statement added.

With 72 more people succumbing to COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh, the death toll due to the disease rose to 3,059 in the state on Tuesday, while 5,124 fresh cases took the infection tally to 1,97,388.

Of the 72 deaths, 18 were reported from Kanpur, 12 from Lucknow, seven from Gorakhpur, four from Allahabad, and three each from Varanasi and Siddharth Nagar, among other districts, a health bulletin issued here said. Kanpur has reported the maximum deaths in the state at 385, followed by 303 in Lucknow, 150 in Varanasi, 134 in Allahabad, 128 in Meerut, 112 in Gorakhpur, and 106 each in Agra and Bareilly, according to the bulletin.

"In the past 24 hours, 5,124 fresh COVID-19 cases were found. There are a total of 49,575 active cases in the state, while 1,44,754 people have been treated and discharged," Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad told

reporters here.