Explained: How Uttar Pradesh Brought Down COVID Positivity Rate From 22 Per Cent In April to 2.67 Per Cent Now

The state of Uttar Pradesh with a population of 23 crore (230 million) has witnessed a 68 per cent reduction in the number of Covid-19 cases from the peak of 2.10 lakh on 23 April.

Yesterday, the state recorded 7,336 fresh cases, the lowest single-day rise since 30 April.

Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told PTI that active cases have come down by over 1.87 lakh in around 20 days.

The positivity rate has also declined to 2.67 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the country, from 22 per cent in April, and the recovery rate is 92.5 per cent.

Around 1.6 crore vaccine doses have been administered in Uttar Pradesh which is among the 10 states account for 66.32 per cent of the over 19 crore doses given so far in the country. It is also among the group of states which account for 74.55 per cent of the new recoveries.

The state’s success in bringing down the cases can be attributed to the state government's aggressive ‘tracing, testing, tracking and treatment’ strategy.

The government has put a special focus on the rural areas and launched door-to-door screening in around 97,000 villages. The 'gram nigrani samitis' are actively checking the spread of the virus in rural areas.

As per the 19 May health bulletin by the government, a record 2,97,327 samples were tested in 24 hours, of which more than 73 per cent — 2.19 lakh of 2.99 lakh tests — were from rural areas.

More than one lakh Covid-19 tests are being conducted daily in villages. "The teams of the department have inspected over 89,000 villages so far and the infection has been detected in 28,000 villages only," Prasad was quoted as saying.

A two-member monitoring team visit homes to test everyone with symptoms of COVID-19 using Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) kits. Those who test positive are quickly isolated and given a medicine kit with advice on disease management.

All the contacts of those who test positive are quarantined and tested using an RT-PCR at home by a rapid response team.

Each Block within a district has been allocated two mobile vans to test people with symptoms, even as routine sample collection and testing continues in Community Health Centres.

The state government has reportedly deployed over 1.4 lakh teams and 21,242 supervisors from the state health department for this activity to ensure all rural areas are covered.

Additionally, a special sanitation campaign has been started under which the members of the monitoring committees reach out to villagers to raise their awareness of the importance of hygiene and social distancing.

Reportedly, all the districts in the state have been directed to remain alert and authorities have been asked to ensure that the children receive prompt treatment, including oxygen facility and other necessary treatment.