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UP’s response falls short as cases spike
The steps came on a day the state logged more than 20,000 cases for the second consecutive day with officials expressing concerns about health facilities getting stretched not just in the hinterlands but also in the state capital Lucknow.
The Uttar Pradesh government scrambled to augment health infrastructure and clamped additional curbs in the worst-affected districts on Thursday amid growing complaints of testing delays, hospital bed shortage, and allegations of administrative missteps.
The steps came on a day the state logged more than 20,000 cases for the second consecutive day with officials expressing concerns about health facilities getting stretched not just in the hinterlands but also in the state capital Lucknow. The situation may get worse with the return of migrant workers from Maharashtra and other badly hit regions, experts said.
The government on Thursday shut all schools till May 15 and postponed state board exams. The new exam dates will be announced in the first week of May, said chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who tested positive for the virus earlier this week.
Instead of 9pm to 6am, night curfew will now be enforced from 8pm to 7am in 10 districts including Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Gorakhpur.
The first phase of the state panchayat polls kicked off on Thursday amid the pandemic.
In Lucknow, the municipal corporation put up tin sheets to block the view of the Bhainsakund site, the main cremation ground in the city. The move came after videos of numerous funerals went viral.
“Only the Covid cremation area has been barricaded from non-Covid cremation area. This has been done on the advice of experts,” said municipal commissioner Ajay Dwivedi.
But the Opposition alleged that the cremation ground was covered up to conceal numbers. “Blocking the view of Bhainsakund crematorium is a blatant attempt to conceal the real number of... cremation,” said Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ashutosh Verma.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the government was trying to hide the tragedy. But the ruling BJP said the Opposition was indulging in politics over dead bodies.
At least 630 cremations have been done at the crematorium grounds of Bhaisakund, Gulalaghat and Alambagh in Lucknow during the last 10 days, said Ram Nagina Tripathi, in-charge of city crematoriums.
At least 200 people have been buried in the city’s biggest Aishbag Muslim graveyard in the last 10 days, said Maulana Khalid Rasheed of Farangi Mahali. Some of who died were suffering from Covid-19, but could not get themselves tested, he said.
The government official, who did not want to be named, said that many bodies came from adjoining areas of Lucknow.
Self-imposed lockdown
In Lucknow, traders at major markets such as Hazratganj and Aminabad voluntarily closed shops as daily cases surged in the city to 5,183 on Thursday.
“Even as the wedding season is on alongside festivals of Navratri and Ramzan, we have decided to close our establishments because saving lives is more important,” said Sandeep Bansal, president of Uttar Pradesh Udyog Vyapar Mandal. Shops will be shut till April 21.
Particularly badly hit was the city police force. A senior police official said 147 officials tested positive in the past two days, while one sub-inspector succumbed to the disease. As many as 351 personnel are currently undergoing treatment.
Uttar Pradesh is among the 12 states and Union territories in the country where the second wave of the outbreak has surpassed the peak of the first wave. The state currently has seen 22,439 cases and 104 new deaths.
To deal with the second wave, the government has decided to increase Covid beds and hospitals. “...Another 45 government hospitals and private Medical Colleges have been notified as Covid hospitals in 30 districts,” said additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad .
But they are falling short. In Lucknow, for example, 86% of intensive care Covid beds are occupied, said official data. The city is testing an average of 25,000 samples per day but the daily pendency of sample is around 4,000. A result may take up to 72 hours.
In smaller cities, the condition is worse. In Meerut, 19 Covid-19 patients have been cremated at the city’s biggest site, Surajkund, in the past four days. But the health department has mentioned only seven Covid deaths till Wednesday.
Dr Soumya Pandey of SRL Path Lab said she restricted sample collection to 100 a day. “We can’t handle samples more than this because we also need to do a lot of paper work,” she said.
