Umesh Sharma Kau, BJP MLA from Raipur constituency, tested positive for novel coronavirus on Saturday. He confirmed the news of his infection in a tweet saying, he was symptomatic and hence, got himself tested. “I request all those who have come in my contact very recently to get themselves tested,
Of late, several leaders of the ruling party have tested Covid-19 positive. These include — state BJP president Bansidhar Bhagat, cabinet minister Madan Kaushik, Jhabreda MLA Dehraj Karnwal, Khanpur MLA Pranav Singh ‘Champion’, and Dharampur MLA Vinod Chamoli, among others. Eleven out of 70 MLAs in the state have so far tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand recorded its biggest single-day hike in coronavirus cases with as many as 1,115 fresh infections being reported from the state. The Covid-19 case tally of the state now stands at 30,336. The infection rate rose to 6.2% on Saturday and the active cases reached 9,781.
On the day, 53 inmates of Haldwani district jail tested positive for Covid-19. Dr Bhagirathi Joshi, chief medical officer of Nainital, confirmed to TOI that among the 80 inmates of Haldwani jail who were tested for coronavirus on Friday, 53 were found infected on Saturday.
“We are planning to test all other inmates, especially the symptomatic ones. The jail administration has already started isolating the inmates so that the spread of infection can be controlled,” added the CMO.
Also, 14 deaths of Covid-19 patients were recorded on the day, pushing the fatalities to 402 in the state.
Among the fresh cases reported on Saturday, the maximum of 290 were from Dehradun, followed by 269 from Haridwar, 180 from Udham Singh Nagar, and 110 from Nainital.
“Among the hill districts, Pithoragarh reported 68 cases, followed by 51 from Uttarkashi, 46 from Tehri, 31 from Pauri, 25 from Rudraprayag, 14 from Chamoli, 13 from Bageshwar, 10 from Champawat, and eight from Almora,” said Abhishek Tripathi, officer of Covid-19 control room.
