A BJP Minister in the state of Uttar Pradesh has passed away on Tuesday in Lucknow due to the COVID-19 viral infection. The development has come when the state government has announced a weekend lockdown in the state to curb the rampant spread of the pandemic. Through the announcement, Uttar Pradesh has joined a club of states which has imposed the weekend lockdown. 

According to reports, Hanuman Prasad Mishra, who had been serving as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government had on Tuesday passed away due to the novel coronavirus. The minister has breathed his last at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow. Mishra had been suffering from cancer and he got infected with COVID-19 recently. 

Amid the treatments, he had passed away and the news of his demise had shocked the state with several leaders have been expressing their tributes to the departed minister. Last year, two other ministers of the Yogi Adityanath government - Kamal Rani Varun and Chetan Chauhan had died of the global pandemic. 

The Uttar Pradesh government has on Tuesday announced a weekend lockdown and the lockdown will come to effect from 8 pm on Friday - April 23 to 7 am on Monday - April 26. Announcing the lockdown, Awanish K Awasthi, the Additional Chief Secretary of the home department, said that only essential services will be allowed and night curfew will remain imposed in all districts. 

The states like Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry had imposed such restrictions and night curfews to curb the spread of the pandemic. Uttar Pradesh has now joined the club as the sequel of heavy caseloads. The total COVID-19 tally in the BJP ruling state has reached nearly 8.8 lakh. On Monday, the state has registered the highest-single day rise in COVID-19 deaths as the disease has claimed around 170 lives while the state has reported 28,287 fresh cases.