Uttar Pradesh declares 3 districts in state as COVID-free, continues to take precautions

More than two months after India reported the first COVID-19 case which eventually spread across the country infecting more than 11,000 people, three districts in the country have been declared as Coronavirus free by the government. Pilibhit, Hathras and Maharajganj in India's most populous state - Uttar Pradesh have been declared COVID-free as there are no active cases.

However, Principal Health Secretary Amit Mohan Prasad while confirming the news stated that the districts have been instructed to not lower the guard and continue to take precautions. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh has so far reported 805 cases while 74 have recovered. The state has also witnessed 13 deaths due to Coronavirus. 

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Earlier on April 14, after announcing the extension of lockdown till May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that states and districts will be monitored closely till April 20 and there is a possibility of lifting the lockdown in non-COVID hotspots.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry on Thursday informed that 325 districts across the country have not reported a single case of Coronavirus since the outbreak of the virus. The ministry also added that 27 districts have reported no positive case in the past 14 days while Mahe in Puducherry has reported none in the past 28 days. 

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Decline in COVID cases

In another piece of good news, the Ministry of Health on Friday said the average growth rate of COVID-19 cases has declined by 40% from mid-March to now while the doubling rate of the disease has gone up to 6.2 days according to data of last seven days. The Ministry informed that the doubling rate is lower than the national level in 19 States and Union Territories. The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients has also improved to 13.06%.

"The average growth factor of cases has been 1.2 from April 1, while during March 15-31, the average growth factor was 2.1. This decline of 40% has occurred due to an increase in testing, including testing of SARI and ILI cases," Joint Secretary of Health Lav Agarwal said.

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