COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh: Over 35% active cases, 28% deaths in Meerut division

COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh: Over 35 per cent of all active COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh are in six districts of the Meerut administrative division, where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wants special attention to combat the pandemic, according to official data. The division, which comprises Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Meerut and Baghpat districts, has also reported over 28 per cent of the total deaths recorded in the state due to the novel coronavirus, the data stated.

There are 6,869 active cases in Uttar Pradesh, of which 2,456 (35.75 per cent) are from the Meerut division, according to the state Health Department's data updated till Thursday. The maximum such cases are in Ghaziabad (931) followed by Gautam Buddh Nagar (929), Meerut (272), Bulandshahr (141), Hapur (127) and Baghpat (56), the data showed.

The region also accounted for 207 (28.16 per cent) of the 735 COVID-19 deaths recorded in the state till Thursday. The maximum of these fatalities was reported in Meerut (87) followed by Ghaziabad (57), Gautam Buddh Nagar and Bulandshahr (22 each), Hapur (14) and Baghpat (five), according to the data.

In the region, Meerut (8.11 per cent) had the highest mortality rate followed by Bulandshahr (3.53 per cent), Ghaziabad (3.17 per cent), Hapur (2.15 per cent), Baghpat (1.81 per cent) and Gautam Buddh Nagar (0.88 per cent), the data stated. Chief Minister Adityanath had on Thursday directed officials to pay special attention to the Meerut division to tackle coronavirus, according to officials.

A special 10-day coronavirus screening campaign started on Thursday in these six districts, which are also part of the National Capital Region, where a spurt in COVID-19 cases has been seen, they said. As per the chief minister's directives, 2,375 surveillance teams in rural and 1,516 in the urban areas have been set up by the Health Department in the division, which has been provided with 50,000 additional antigen testing kits to ramp up tests, the officials added.