Lucknow, Jul 13 (IANS): With active Covid caseload in Uttar Pradesh dropping below the 1,500-mark, the state is on its way to becoming Covid-free.

Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday witnessed the steepest decline in the number of fresh cases as the state logged below 60 new infections for the first time in over four months. This is the lowest single-day tally recorded in the state since February-end.

The active caseload in Uttar Pradesh has come down to 1,479, of which 1,186 people are under home isolation, while the percentage of active cases as against the total confirmed cases is just 0.1 per cent.

The recovery rate in the state now stands at 98.6 per cent, which is a testimony to the success of the 'Yogi model' in taming the virus, said a government spokesperson.

Uttar Pradesh had also recorded a significant drop in the daily test positivity rate (TPR) -- the number of positive cases against the total tests done -- on Monday as it dipped to 0.03 per cent, the lowest so far.

The spokesperson said that Uttar Pradesh has been pushing for more testing and has set up 11 new bio-safety level-2 laboratories to further boost the state's testing capacity, which is already nearly 4 lakh tests a day.

With these new RT-PCR laboratories, over 44 districts of the state will get accessible testing facilities.

Work is underway to set up such laboratories in the other 30 districts of the state within three to four months, the spokesperson informed.

Uttar Pradesh has also ramped up its oxygen production as 153 out of the 542 sanctioned plants have become functional, he added.