Lucknow, Jun 18 () Uttar Pradesh recorded its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with 604 people testing positive for the disease in the last 24 hours, officials said as the virus count rose to 15,785 in the state.
The death toll from the novel coronavirus also increased to 488 after 23 fresh fatalities were reported from different districts of Uttar Pradesh, they said.
Among the 23 fresh cases, four are from Agra; three each from Meerut and Ghaziabad; two each from Lucknow, Etawah and Kanpur; one each from Firozabad, Varanasi, Bulandshahr, Prayagraj, Gonda, Bareilly and Jhansi.
The previous highest single-day spike in cases was on Wednesday when the state recorded 583 infections.
"Of the total infected people, 9,638 people have been discharged from hospitals after recovery. The number of active cases in the state stands at 5,659," Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said.
He said 16,546 tests were done on Wednesday. On an average, over 16,000 tests are being done in Uttar Pradesh everyday, Prasad said.
The official also said the state health department has started random sampling.
"We have selected 72 districts where migrants have come and 1,682 samples were collected from there, and none of them were found positive," he said.
The principal secretary said in the days to come, people working in medicine shops and dhabas and those involved in home delivery services will be randomly tested.
Prasad appealed to the people to follow social-distancing norms, use face covers and take proper care of the aged, pregnant women, children and those suffering from comorbidities.
More COVID-19 testing machines are being purchased using the Chief Minister's COVID Relief Fund, Additional Chief Secretary, Information, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said.
He said the health department and medical colleges have been asked to send COVID-19 reports in time and ensure there is no backlog.
"The chief minister has directed (officials) to create a permanent structure for testing," he said. ABN ANB CK