A total of 1,041 migrants who have returned to U.P. have tested positive for COVID-19 so far, the State health department said. This was out of the overall 5,175 cases in U.P. as of Wednesday, with the death toll rising to 127.
While government officials had of late stressed that the COVID-19 caseload in U.P. had increased due to the return of the State’s migrant workers, this is the first time that the government acknowledged it in terms of figures.
In comparison to the 1,041 migrant workers who tested positive, the number of persons linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi and their contacts who had tested positive in U.P. as on Tuesday was 1,304 , as per the government.
Of the 249 positive cases reported on Wednesday, 50 fresh cases were reported in Barabanki, all of them migrant workers who recently returned, according to a health official in Lucknow. Ayodhya also reported 21 fresh cases, while 15 positive cases were found in Etawah, 12 in Prayagraj, 11 in Pratapgarh and 10 in Rampur. Barabanki’s district administration, however, reported the number of new cases at 95.
The total number of samples collected from “inter-State migrants” stood at 43,625, while more than 5.36 lakh were under the surveillance of ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists), the U.P. health department said. The number of migrants who were under surveillance as on Tuesday was 4.75 lakh.
The total number of active cases in U.P. now stands at 1,982.
