UP health minister tests positive for coronavirus, in home isolation

Lucknow, July 24: Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh is in home isolation after he tested positive for coronavirus. However, he is asymptomatic and is isolating at his Lucknow home.

The minister was suffering from mild fever after which he decided to get himself tested and found to be positive after testing was done through TruNat machine. However, a sample has also been sent to Lucknow's KGMU lab for confirmation, the reports of which are expected by Friday evening.

With 2,529 infections Uttar Pradesh COVID tally reached to 58,104 on Thursday. Thirty-four new fatalities were also reported, taking the death toll to 1,298 in the state.

Lucknow continues to be one of the worst-hit areas in the state with 307 fresh coronavirus cases reported on Thursday, taking the number of active cases to 3,196.

The Government of Uttar Pradesh has decided that liquor shops, outside containment zones, will remain open during the lockdown on Saturdays and Sundays in the state.

The state government had on July 12 imposed a stricter lockdown across the state on weekends to stop the coronavirus spread.