Uttar Pradesh's handling of the second wave of COVID-19 cases was "unparalleled", Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Thursday morning during a visit to his constituency of Varanasi. The Prime Minister also said UP - which recorded over 30,000 new cases daily at the peak of the second wave, up from a record single-day high of 7,016 cases in the first - had "stood up and battled the virus efficiently", and that its management of the pandemic was "worthy of praise".