Two more positive coronavirus cases in UP; Total cases now 19

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh jumped to 19 after two more persons tested positive for the coronavirus in the state on Thursday.

According to the health officials here, both persons had recently returned from abroad.

While one of the youths, a resident of Lucknow city, had returned from the USA, the other, a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri district, had returned from Trukey, they said.

Officials said that the Lakhimpur Kheri youth had got himself tested at a private laboratory there and also later got treatment at the district hospital.

''We are trying to find out about the people, who may have come into contact with him,'' said an official here. Both of them were admitted to the isolation ward at the KG Medical University hospital here.

The official said that over two thousand villages had been sanitised in the state so far.

Strict screening was being undertaken at the Indo-Nepal borders, sources said. Section 144 was imposed in Noida to prevent large gatherings.

All important religious places in the temple town of Chitrakoot had been closed for the devotees, sources said. In Lucknow also many important temples had shut their doors for the people.

After the BJP, the Samajwadi Party (SP) also cancelled its scheduled public programs in view of the Coronavirus outbreak. ''All the programs have been cancelled...we will re-schedule them after April 15,'' said an SP leader here.