Cantonment area of Lucknow was on Sunday sealed after some Tablighi Jamaat returnees tested positive in the area. Authorities in the area have ordered to seal Lucknow's Cantt area for 48 hours, as 12 people who had returned from Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi's Nizamuddin, tested positive for COVID-19. According to the details, only Quick Response Teams and medical staff will be allowed to enter the area during the 48-hour period. Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus positive cases in Uttar Pradesh now stand at 257, with 75 more cases being confirmed in the past 24 hours.
Of the total cases, at least 98 are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi. The state's count on Friday was 177 and two people -- one each in Basti and Meerut -- have died.
According to Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad, there has been a steep rise in the cases in the past two days, primarily because of a number of those linked to the Tablighi Jamaat testing positive.
Cases have been reported from Agra, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Varanasi, Shamli, Baghpat, Ghazipur, Pratapgarh, Saharanpur, Banda, Maharajganj, Hathras and Mirzapur on Saturday.
The overall district-wise tally since the coronavirus crisis began is -- Gautam Buddha Nagar (58), Agra (44), Meerut (25), Ghaziabad (14), Saharanpur (13), Lucknow (10), Kanpur (7), Bareilly, Shamli and Maharajganj (6 each), Basti, Varanasi (5 each), Firozabad and Hathras (4 each), Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Bulandshahr, Pratapgarh (3 each), Pilibhit, Mirzapur, Baghpat (2 each), Shahjahanpur Hardoi, Hapur, Moradabad, Lakhimpur Kheri and Banda (1 each).
Prasad said that the numbers are rising because of aggressive testing.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said a total of 1,281 people associated with the Jamaat have been identified, of which 977 have been quarantined.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will hold a video conference with religious leaders of different districts on Sunday, Awasthi said.
The chief minister has directed that in places that have been identified as hotspots, the district magistrates should launch all-out efforts to minimize the load of infection to ensure that the disease is controlled.
Fire brigade teams who have been involved in sanitization work have started working in Lucknow and other districts.
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