After a lull of almost three months, novel coronavirus infection cases spiked in Uttar Pradesh with 27 people testing positive in the last 24 hours while during the same period eight COVID-19 patients recovered.
A UP government spokesman said that the maximum of nine new COVID-19 cases were reported from Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) followed by five in Mainpuri, three in Varanasi and two each in Lucknow, Mathura and Bareilly and one each in Ghazipur, Prayagraj and Maharajganj.
At present there are 116 active cases in the state while 1.51 lakh samples were tested for novel coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours.
“Following a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases, the UP government has intensified screening and strengthened surveillance across the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed officials to intensify genome sequencing of the Covid samples. In pursuance of the directive, genome sequencing of samples is being carried out at a rapid pace in at Lucknow's KGMU and SGPGIMS,” the official said.
The facilities of genome sequencing are available in BHU, CDRI, IGIB, Ram Manohar Lohia Institute and NBRI in UP.