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Yogi sounds NCR alert after Noida, Ghaziabad Covid uptick
Amid an uptick in Covid cases in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida), chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday put all National Capital Region (NCR) districts of UP on alert
Amid an uptick in Covid cases in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida), chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday put all National Capital Region (NCR) districts of UP on alert. Yogi was reviewing the Covid situation at a meeting of his Team-9 here.
Overall, Uttar Pradesh recorded 106 new Covid cases, including 70 in Gautam Buddha Nagar and 11 in Ghaziabad, Lucknow 5, Meerut 3 and Saharanpur 2 on Saturday, according to state health department data. With this, the number of active Covid cases crossed the 500-mark after a gap of 23 days in the state.
Yogi said the impact of increase in Covid cases has been felt in NCR region. He said the situation there will be reviewed with district magistrates and chief medical officers. He also asked for collection of samples of positive cases for genome sequencing.
In all 73,881 Covid tests were conducted in the past 24 hours and 106 new cases were confirmed. Thirty-seven patients were discharged following their treatment during the same period.
“There are 507 active Covid cases at present in the state,” said Amit Mohan Prasad, additional chief secretary (medical health), in a press statement.
There were 700 active Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh on March 23 and 492 cases on March 24. Since then, the number of active cases kept falling until April 11 when the number of active as well as fresh Covid-19 cases started going up.
“Gautam Buddha Nagar has the maximum 218 active cases, Ghaziabad 84 and Lucknow 38 active Covid cases according to the data,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.
At the review meeting, Yogi said: “We will have to take complete precaution. Covid vaccination drive was being successfully implemented. So far 86% eligible population has been given both the doses of Covid vaccine and progress of vaccination among 12 to 14 and 15 to 17 years age group youths was satisfactory and could be expedited further.”
He said work on booster dose for 18 plus age group people should also be expedited. Yogi also asked his team to ensure that no citizen was deprived of vaccine.
He said communicable diseases and Dastak campaigns should be implemented expeditiously.
“Focus should remain on malaria while protection against dengue should be priority in Lucknow division. People should be made aware about encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh,” the CM said.
He said special health fairs were being organised in all development blocks on the occasion of Amrit Mahotsav of India’s freedom. “Local public representatives should remain present in the fairs between April 18 and 23,” Yogi said.
The chief minister said policy for procurement of millet will be prepared on the pattern of policies for buying paddy and wheat.
“An action plan in this regard should be worked out as providing remunerative price and increasing income of farmers was responsibility of the state government,” he said.
The chief minister said there was a need for better management for procurement of food grains. He said produce of farmers should not go waste and new godowns should be set up at village panchayat levels.
Yogi said necessary arrangements should be made to provide maximum facilities to those engaged in farming and an action plan for storage of seed and fertilisers at village panchayat level should be prepared. He said arrangements in all cow shelter homes should be made up to the mark.
Speaking about one of them, Dr D Himanshu, medical superintendent of KGMU, said: “The patient admitted to the Covid facility is on ventilator support. He was under treatment for kidney problem for the past two years and had tested positive when he required admission recently for kidney treatment.” The second patient is admitted to the base hospital.
