Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Apr 27 (IANS): With 33 more corona positive cases emerging in the past 24 hours, Kanpur is now a major COVID-19 hotspot in Uttar Pradesh after Agra.

The tally of corona positive cases in Kanpur is now 185 and the city has 25 hotspots.

The new cases include 13 women and two policemen.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Ashok Shukla, said on Monday, "The latest cases were detected from Bhannana Purwa area where 10 members of a family contracted the virus, while 10 cases were reported from the Colonelganj area. There are 13 women who have corona virus. We have prepared a contact list of those who came in contact with them and now their tests would be conducted too."

The first case in Kanpur city had been reported on March 23 when a 70-year-old man tested positive few days after his arrival from the US.

Health officials said nine patients have been cured and discharged while three others have died.

On Saturday, the health authorities had heaved a sigh of relief when 20 patients undergoing treatment at Sarsaul Communit Health Centre had tested negative signaling a slowdown in the spread of the virus.

The health officials are now disturbed over the fact that more women have started testing positive for the deadly virus - till now the majority of the patients were men.

"This suggests that men are acting as carriers and transferring the infection. The men had been exposing themselves to people who have already contracted the virus. We request people to stay indoors if they are worried about the well being of their near and dear ones. Every house and every person in the containment areas will be checked," the official said.