Lucknow, Aug 5 : Covid cases in Uttar Pradesh continued to rise. For the fourth consecutive day on Thursday, 887 more people tested positive for the infection, with the highest (201) in Gautam Buddha Nagar. Two deaths, one each from Kannauj and Ayodhya, were also reported. Amit Mohan Prasad, additional chief secretary (medical health) said, "The state tested 74,384 Covid samples in the past 24 hours. Till now, 11,98,97,963 samples have been tested." The number of active Covid cases reached 4,000 after a gap of over five months. On February 26, there were 4,232 active cases but the number came down to 3954 on February 27, after which there was a considerable fall in the active count (it remained below 4,000). Over 3,500 active cases were in home isolation. A majority among those in hospitals tested positive for Covid when they reached there for treatment of some other illness or surgical procedure. "In the past 24 hours, 464 patients recovered, and till now, 20,77,620 patients have recovered in the state," said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors. On Thursday, Lucknow reported 94 fresh cases, Ghaziabad 99, Meerut 58, Varanasi 43 and Prayagraj 28, according to the data from the state health department. As many as 78 patients recovered in Lucknow. /IANS