UP To Test People Coming In From Delhi For Covid: Report

Uttar Pradesh has decided to conduct mandatory Covid tests on people coming from Delhi as the national capital struggles to contain a month-long surge in coronavirus. The authorities in Gautam Budh Nagar, the district in Uttar Pradesh adjoining Delhi, have been conducting random checks on incoming people for a while. So did Haryana in Delhi's adjoining districts of Gurugram and Faridabad.

"We will be testing people coming from Delhi via flight, bus or train, in the wake of surge in COVID-19 cases in the national capital," UP Chief Secretary RK Tiwari was quoted as saying by news agency ANI today. "We are discussing on the number of people allowed to attend weddings or other events," he added.

The numbers in Delhi -- on an upward movement since the end of October -- had breached the 8000-mark earlier this month. Even yesterday, it topped the list of daily surge with 5,876 cases, even though the number of tests was far below the 60,000-plus cases conducted on a weekday. Only 45,568 tests were conducted over the 24 hours before that, showed data from the health ministry.

Uttar Pradesh, too, has been witnessing a sudden surge in coronavirus cases, which prompted the Centre to rush a three-member expert team to the state.

With 24 fatalities in Uttar Pradesh over the last 24 hours, the total rose to 7,524. The number of cases surged to 5,24,223 with 2,326 new infections. The number of active cases in the state stands at 23,471, the positivity rate of November is 1.6 per cent.

Over the last 24 hours, the number of coronavirus cases in the country rose by 45,209, taking the total number of infections to 90.95 lakh, government data showed.