Lucknow, Aug 2 (IANS): Only 36 new Covid cases have been registered in Uttar Pradesh in the past 24 hours with 52 districts reporting not even a single case of Covid.

The number of active cases has come down to 664.

Ten districts -- Aligarh, Amroha, Etah, Farrukhabad, Hathras, Kasganj, Kaushambhi, Mahoba, Pratapgarh and Shravasti -- have been declared Covid-free.

At least 23 districts reported new cases but in single digit.

In view of the possibility of the third wave of Coronavirus pandemic, the number of oxygen plants and ventilator beds have been ramped up in the state. Out of the 541 sanctioned oxygen plants, 254 have become functional. The government also claimed to have readied 156 beds for children in Lucknow of which 56 beds are equipped with ventilators.

"The remaining beds have oxygen support through pipelines and the paediatric Covid ward is ready for use," a government statement said.

"Ventilator unit with 40 beds for children is also ready at Lucknow's Balrampur Hospital and an oxygen generation plant is functional to fulfil the oxygen requirement of 100 beds," it said.

The daily positivity rate in the state stands at 0.01 per cent which is the lowest in the country.

The government spokesman said that daily fresh cases have been limited to less than 100 for nearly 20 days now.

With a density of 690 people per square kilometre, Uttar Pradesh is also the only state in the country to have tested more than three lakh samples a day and over 6.5 crore samples so far.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has again urged the people to continue following safety protocols and take advantage of the mega vaccine drive.