Yogi for WFH in 4 dists, to convene all-party meet on Covid situation

LUCKNOW Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday decided to convene an all-party meeting next week on the Covid situation in the state, which reported 37 more fatalities, raising the death toll due to the pandemic to 9,039

LUCKNOW Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday decided to convene an all-party meeting next week on the Covid situation in the state, which reported 37 more fatalities, raising the death toll due to the pandemic to 9,039. He also directed officials to re-introduce ‘work from home’ (WFH) in offices in four districts – Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Kanpur City.

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“All government and non-government offices in these four cities should make provisions for ‘work from home’, as per convenience and operate with 50% human resource capacity or on shift basis,” said the chief minister during a high level Covid review meeting at his official residence in Lucknow.

While the CM and Governor Anandiben Patel will meet political leaders on April 11, on the two subsequent days, they will meet mayors and religious leaders to discuss the situation and seek their participation to spread anti-Covid awareness.

The CM instructed officials to set up three new dedicated Covid hospitals in Lucknow in the next three days. Yogi asked for a 300-bed Covid hospital at Balrampur Hospital and conversion of Era Medical College and TS Mishra Medical College into Covid hospitals.

He asked officers to ramp up vaccination in Lucknow, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Agra, Gorakhpur, Meerut, and Varanasi. For effective prevention of Covid, action should be taken in accordance with the mantra of ‘test, trace, treat’, added Yogi.

“The state must do two lakh Covid tests each day, of which half should be done by RT-PCR method,” said the CM.

Yogi also issued guidelines for increasing the number of beds in Level-2 and Level-3 Covid hospitals.

After reviewing the Covid-19 situation in the state, the CM decided to go for an on-the-spot review of steps taken in Prayagraj, Varanasi and Gorakhpur to contain the virus. Minister for medical education Suresh Khanna and minister for health Jay Pratap Singh, along with senior officers, were tasked to carry out the review in the remaining districts to bring about an improvement in the Covid situation.

Meanwhile, preparations were on to make the ‘Teeka Utsav’ (vaccination festival) from April 11 to 14 a success across the state. At his video conferencing with chief ministers on Thursday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a call to hold the ‘Teeka Utsav’ from April 11 to 14 to ensure more vaccinations for people in eligible age groups. Subsequently, the CM had asked officers to work out modalities for the vaccination festival.

Focus on 10 dists accounting

for over 50% of cases in UP

LUCKNOW The UP government also braced for a strategy to check the spread of infection in 10 districts that accounted for over 50% of Covid cases across the state.

At the moment, UP had 48,306 active cases and Lucknow accounted for 13,478 cases, Kanpur Nagar 2,477, Prayagraj 5,502, Varanasi 4,553, Ghaziabad 574, Gautam Budd Nagar 940, Meerut, 1,027, Gorakhpur 1,334, Bareilly 708 and Jhansi 972, as per the health department.

“Districts accounting for more than 50% of the total cases in UP are in focus. The CM is visiting Prayagraj and Varanasi and will be going to Gorakhpur on Saturday. Minister for medical education Suresh Khanna has been sent to Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Meerut and Saharanpur while minister for medical and health Jay Pratap Singh Singh will be in Kanpur, Agra, Jhansi and Bareilly,” said Navneet Sehgal, additional chief secretary, information.

Chief secretary RK Tiwari and additional chief secretary rural development Manoj Kumar Singh will review the Covid situation in Lucknow, he said.

Chief secretary and ACS (rural development) would review the situation including availability of beds, medcines, medical equipment and ambulances along with the situation at the crematorium in Lucknow and give necessary directives for improvement, said officials. HTC