Compliance, increased testing: Key points from UP govt's new Covid-19 guidelines

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said compliance with Covid-19 protocol is essential and that special vigilance is required ahead of panchayat elections and festivals.

The spike in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases has led the Uttar Pradesh government to impose stricter guidelines to contain the spread of deadly virus.

Intensified surveillance of areas where people have arrived from states with a high number of Covid-19 cases. (PTI)

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said compliance with Covid-19 protocol is essential and that special vigilance is required ahead of panchayat elections and festivals. Contact tracing needs to be strengthened, he asserted

Click here for complete coverage of Covid-19

"In each case, compliance with the Covid protocol should be ensured. In view of panchayat elections and festivals / festivals, we have to take special vigilance. Contact tracing needs to be speeded up and strengthened," the chief minister's office (CMO) tweeted in Hindi.

In other tweets, the UP CMO said that the recent rise in Covid-19 infections is a warning to everyone. In the wake of surging cases of the virus the minister said antigen tests should be made mandatory at railway stations, airports, bus stations etc. including an increase in the number of RT-PCR tests. Dedicated Covid-19 hospitals should be kept active at all times in every district of the state, he added.

Here are the key points from UP government's guidelines:

Chief secretary RK Tiwari has instructed all district magistrates to test people coming from states with higher Covid-19 cases.

Gautam Buddh Nagar Police and Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey in Uttar Pradesh have imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) from March 17- April 30 to restrict gathering ahead of festivals.

Agressive contact tracing of railway co-passengers of people who test Covid-19 positive. The stations where long distance trains stop should have testing facilities.

Intensified surveillance of areas where people have arrived from states with a high number of Covid-19 cases.

Strict measures like barricading, pasting stickers on houses of those found Covid-19 positive in containment zones have also been ordered.

Region wise calendar of areas has been prepared by the state government for intensive surveillance of people returning in large numbers.

Asserting the importance of Covid-19 vaccination, the chief minister also said that the inoculation process is going smoothly in the state and Uttar Pradesh is the first state in the country to administer 33 lakh vaccinations. This situation needs to be improved further, he added.

India on Thursday reported the highest spike (35,871) in daily coronavirus cases in more than 100 days. More than 3.71 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far.