COVID-19 cases cross 2,000 mark in Gautam Buddh Nagar; death toll rises to 21

The death toll due to COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district rose to 21 on Saturday with one more fatality, while the total number of cases crossed the 2,000 mark, according to official data.

The deceased was a policeman. He was deployed at the local court and had tested positive for COVID-19, a senior police officer said.

According to the UP Health Department data, the district has recorded 127 new cases since Friday, while 97 patients were discharged during the 24-hour period.

Of the total 2,072 COVID-19 cases in the district, 915 were active while 1,136 patients have been discharged so far following recovery, it said.

The recovery rate of patients improved slightly to 54.62 per cent on Saturday from 53.39 per cent on Friday. It was 56.76 per cent on Thursday, 59.67 per cent on Wednesday and 60.25 per cent on Tuesday, according to the data.

At 915, Gautam Buddh Nagar has the highest number of active cases in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Ghaziabad at 680, Lucknow at 399, Kanpur Nagar at 320, Hapur at 279, Meerut at 289 and Bulandshahr at 185, it stated.

As of Saturday, there were 6,685 active COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh. While 14,215 patients have been discharged, 649 deaths have been recorded so far, the official data showed.

Meanwhile, District Magistrate Suhas L Y said a special drive for intensive sampling was conducted in Gautam Buddh Nagar on Saturday during which 1,115 samples were collected.

This includes 793 RT-PCR tests, 312 antigen-based tests which yielded 17 positive results, and 10 Tru-NAAT tests all of which were negative. The results for the RT-PCR tests are awaited, he said.

"We shall continue the strategy of early tracking and intensive containment. We thank the residents for their continued support," the DM said in a statement on Saturday night.