For the first time since the start of the second wave of novel coronavirus infection, Lucknow along with 42 other districts of the state did not report any casualty during the last 24 hours while 642 fresh cases were reported and 1,231 COVID-19 patients recovered during the same time.

During the same period, 82 COVID-19 deaths were reported with maximum 15 fatalities in Kanpur Nagar, followed by eight in Gorakhpur. Cities like Ghaziabad and Meerut which were epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic, reported three deaths each. According to officials, the overall positivity rate in the state is 3.2 per cent. There are now 12,244 COVID-19 patients in the state with the recovery rate touching 98 per cent. The positivity rate on Wednesday was just 0.2 per cent.

Officials said here on Thursday that 3,05,731 samples were tested for novel coronavirus infection and with it the total Covid tests in the state went up to 5, 25,03,838.

UP has the highest per positive case tests which stands at 30.5 per cent. Among other states Maharashtra has 6.4 per cent per positive case tests, Karnataka 11.5 per cent, Kerala 8 per cent, Delhi 14 per cent, Tamil Nadu 12.8 per cent, and Andhra Pradesh 11.4  per cent. According to officials, 12,53,691 food packets have been distributed so far during the second wave of COVID-19 to the needy people. Meanwhile, as the requirement of oxygen in the hospitals has decreased, on Wednesday 109 metric tons of oxygen was supplied for industrial use in the state, which was higher than normal days.