Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow has gone back to the containment zone era of 2020, after a record 439 coronavirus cases were detected in the last 24 hours.
On the orders of the Lucknow District magistrate Abhishek Prakash, seven containment zones were set up in Alambagh, Aliganj, Chinhat Indiranagar, Tudiaganj and Aishbagh areas of state capital where the maximum number of COVID-19 positive cases were detected.
The district administration has shared zone wise numbers of Kirana Stores, medical shops, online supplies, hospital and emergency number so that people residing in containment zones do not face any day to day hardships.
The step was taken after 439 cases, out of total 1061 in the state, were reported in Lucknow alone, taking the total number of active cases to 2139. In the past one week, more than ten persons, including a journalist, have died due to infection.
What has caused panic is that the recovery rate has come down to 97.1 percent from 98.2 earlier. Over a dozen journalists in Lucknow tested positive after elections of UP Accredited Journalists Association a week ago. The state government had held a special camp on Saturday for their RT PCR test.
About half a dozen scribes are fighting infection in different hospitals in Lucknow and one of them has died during treatment. The district administration fears that the number of cases will further go up after Holi. Despite warnings, COVID-19 guidelines were thrown to the winds by Holi revellers.
Over 6.13 lakh people have so far been infected by the coronavirus since March 2020. About 5.97 lakh people had recovered and 8,786 people died due to the infection in the state. Over 60 lakh people have so far been administered COVID-19 vaccines.
