In the past 24 hours, Uttar Pradesh has recorded 27 fresh Covid-19 cases, of which the majority (10) were detected in Lucknow.

The number of active cases in the state has thus increased to 203.

At present, only two Covid patients remain hospitalised in Lucknow.

Additional Chief Secretary (Medical Health) Amit Mohan Prasad, said: “There are 27 new Covid cases reported from 1,52,506 samples tested while 20 patients have recovered in the past 24 hours.”

He advised all to follow the Covid protocol and added that all those eligible should take the vaccine doses.

Among those who tested positive in Lucknow are two of a family in Jankipuram locality, who had returned from Uttarakhand recently.

Two others from the Indira Nagar area are from a family. The son, who returned from Gurugram, and his mother, tested positive.

Three residents tested positive after returning from Agra, Punjab, and Bihar, and one person was infected before surgery.

“Contact tracing of each positive case is being done and samples are being sent for genome sequencing of travellers from other states,” said Manoj Agrawal, the Chief Medical Officer of Lucknow.

Abhishek Shukla, Secretary-General, Association of International Doctors, said: “Lucknow has till now reported 2,38,943 Covid cases, including 2651 deaths, and 48 active cases under treatment at present.”

“Majority of patients who tested positive in past one week had mild symptoms and did not require hospitalisation. Their regular health follow-up is being done by teams at the Covid command centre,” said Agrawal.

Meanwhile, with rising in Covid cases, the district health department has identified 4,000 beds in different hospitals that can immediately be used for admitting Covid patients in case of need.

“In all, 4,000 beds in different hospitals have been notified. About 5,000 more beds can be obtained within two-three days. These beds have not been notified yet, but can be taken for Covid patients’ treatment,” said a senior health official.

Over 8,000 hospital beds are linked to the dashboard of the Integrated Covid Command Centre (ICCC) and their real-time status can be seen with patient details and admission status. Hospitals too have marked the Covid beds on their campuses.

“We have set aside Covid beds and can admit patients for up to 300 beds on our campus,” said Dr Alok Srivastava, director of Balrampur hospital.

During the devastating second wave of the pandemic earlier this year, over 8,000 beds were reserved for Covid patients with a maximum of 988 at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU).

This included many private hospitals too, where Covid wards were earmarked for the treatment of patients.