Eight districts of Uttar Pradesh that lie in the National Capital Region account for over 20 per cent or one-fifth of the active COVID-19 cases in the state and more than 11 per cent of deaths linked to the coronavirus, according to official data. Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat and Shamli districts of Uttar Pradesh are a part of the NCR, a wider region that also comprises districts of Haryana and Rajasthan, and entire Delhi.

According to Uttar Pradesh government data, updated till Sunday, there were a total of 5,81,980 COVID-19 cases in the state while the number of active cases stood at 15,371 of which 3,134 (20.38 per cent) were in its National Capital Region (NCR) districts. The country's most populous state is third in terms of active cases in the country, after Kerala (65,344) and Maharashtra (60,374), as per Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 am on Monday.

Among the NCR districts, Meerut has the highest of 1,054 active cases followed by Ghaziabad (790), Gautam Buddh Nagar (477), Muzaffarnagar (389), Bulandshahr (199), Hapur (100),Baghpat(79) and Shamli (46), according to state data. The official state-wide daily bulletin does not share any number on testing of samples nor does it show the total COVID-19 cases at the district level.

The state has so far recorded 8,306 deaths linked to COVID-19, with 935 (11.25 per cent) of them being recorded in the NCR districts, it showed. Of the 935 fatalities, the highest was recorded in Meerut (424) followed by Ghaziabad (100), Muzaffarnagar (101), Bulandshahr (91), Gautam Buddh Nagar (89), Hapur (67), Shamli (29) and Baghpat(34), the data showed.

Uttar Pradesh's official data, updated after every 24 hours, also showed that so far 5,58,303 COVID-19 patients have recovered from the disease across the state with 92,438 (16.55 per cent) such patients in the eight NCR districts. According to state data, the highest number of recoveries among NCR districts was recorded in Ghaziabad (24,972) followed by Gautam Buddh Nagar (24,252), Meerut (20,059), Muzaffarnagar (7,664), Bulandshahr (5,760), Hapur (4,119), Shamli (3,453) and Baghpat(2,159) till Sunday.

Uttar Pradesh has 75 districts, including major ones like Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra, Gorakhpur and Bareilly in terms of population and area. The NCR altogether comprises 23 districts from three states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and the entire national capital territory of Delhi, spanning about 55,083 sq km, according to the NCR Planning Board.

As on Monday morning, there were 2,77,301 active cases of COVID-19 in India, while 97,82,669 patients have been discharged so far and overall 1,47,901 deaths recorded so far, according health ministry data. The total coronavirus cases in the country were recorded at 1,02,07,871, the data showed.