Lucknow: With the active Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh reaching 81,576 on Monday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that his government would neither impose a lockdown nor let the people die in misery. He, however, warned officials to be on their toes to control the surge of coronavirus cases across the state.

“It is the responsibility of the officials to ensure beforehand that there is no shortage of hospital beds for the patients in the state. If needed, take over the private hospitals and medical colleges to overcome the shortcomings. Our priority has to be the implementation of an effective strategy to stop the spread of Covid-19. We will have to fight the pandemic vigorously with full preparation as there is no scope for any sort of negligence. Similar to the last year, we will have to fight this war with great strength. For the same, we will have to increase the beds in L-2 (with oxygen facility) and L-3 (with ventilators) hospitals in sufficient quantity,” the chief minister said at a review meeting held in Lucknow.

Expressing displeasure over complaints against hospitals and labs charging above the prescribed rates, Adityanath said that nobody would be allowed to take advantage of the helplessness of the victims. “It has to stop immediately. In case of providing incorrect or misleading information, harsh action will be taken,” he added. The chief minister also instructed officials to dedicate half of the 108 ambulance service for Covid-19 patients and the remaining half for non-Covid cases. He also set the response time for these ambulances at 15 minutes.

According to a statement issued by the state Information Department, the CM also directed officials to ensure that there was no delay in getting the test results. Take help from the private labs if needed, or completely take over them and pay them the required amount, the CM said, according to the press note. The CM also laid emphasis on making the Integrated Command and Control Center the focal point of the entire operation. Later, the CM held a virtual meeting with his Cabinet members over the situation of the Covid-19 in the state and appealed to them to make detailed plans to stop the spread in their own districts and areas.

On Sunday, Chief Secretary RK Tiwari had issued an advisory to all concerned district and divisional officials, asking them to take several precautions, including the use of a public address system to make people aware of the virus, prevention and vaccination. Screening and antigen test of all passengers arriving at airports and railway stations have been made mandatory. The districts have been directed to ensure that there is no crowd in markets due to hawkers and street vendors, and if required then the markets be shifted to bigger open spaces.

Retail shops will be allowed to stay open from 7 am to 7 pm. Moreover, the police and administrative officials in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Jhansi, Bareilly, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Azamgarh, Ayodhya, Basti, Moradabad and Aligarh have been asked to submit a report on arrangements made to curb infection. These are the district where the infection is spreading at a rapid pace.

On Monday, the state Health Department bulletin stated that 13,685 new cases were reported from across the state with Capital Lucknow adding 3,892 to its caseload in the past 24 hours. The number of fatalities has been increasing with each passing day. As many 72 Covid positive patients, including 21 in Lucknow and 15 in Prayagraj, died since Sunday. In total, 9,224 deaths have been recorded and more than 1,300 of them are from Lucknow.

As per the government data, Varanasi recorded 1,417 new cases, followed by Prayagraj (1,295), Kanpur Nagar (716), Gorakhpur (474), Meerut (336), Jhansi (267), Gautam Buddha Nagar (239) and Ballia (230). In addition to that, 18 other districts have reported more than 100 new cases. Among the total active cases, 44,196 patients are in home isolation.

Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said on Sunday over 1.92 lakh samples were tested and the total samples tested rose to over 3.69 crores. In the state, over 75 lakh persons were administered the Covid-19 vaccine, including over 12.7 lakh who got the second dose as well, he said.

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