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What led to change in plan for relaxation of lockdown
CRUCIAL FACTORS Spurt in corona cases, lax enforcement of lockdown and attacks on medical teams prompted govt to do a rethink
CRUCIAL FACTORS Spurt in corona cases, lax enforcement of lockdown and attacks on medical teams prompted govt to do a rethink
A lot changed between two Sundays and that was enough to throw a spanner in the Uttar Pradesh government’s plans to relax the Covid-19 lockdown for a partial resumption of economic activities from Monday.
On Sunday, April 12, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath held two meetings and spoke about lockdown relaxations.
He said the state would look forward to initiating partial relaxation in the lockdown to support economic activities. These meetings were held with cabinet members and the Covid-19 management Team-11.
At that time, the chief minister had been highlighting that Uttar Pradesh was doing far better than other states on Covid-19 containment, despite being the most populous state.
Initially, the date for partial relaxation was April 15, the end of the first phase of the lockdown, but then it was extended to April 20.
But, things were not looking up by Friday, April 17, when the chief minister held a meeting with district magistrates and district police chiefs.
The chief minister expressed displeasure over violation of the lockdown, rising number of Tablighi Jamaat related Covid-19 infections, and an overall rise in positive cases.
He got his feedback on the situation from the state intelligence wing, Covid control rooms and CCTV footage. The next day, additional chief secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi sent a letter to all the district magistrates and the district police chiefs, noting that the performance of 40 of the 75 districts was ‘unsatisfactory’ in adherence to the lockdown.
All the high Covid-19 incidence districts fell in this category-- Agra, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Lucknow, Meerut, Ghaziabad and Kanpur. The letter had set the tone for the state to rethink the proposed relaxations in lockdown.
The primary criteria on which the districts’ performance was gauged were: high number of Covid-19 cases, high number of Tablighi Jamaat members, attacks on police and healthcare providers.
The number of positive cases rose drastically in several districts between the two Sundays. For instance, Agra had 104 cases on April 12 and the number rose to 240 by April 19. Lucknow’s case count jumped from 32 to 165, Gautam Buddha Nagar’s from 64 to 95; Ghaziabad’s from 27 to 41, Meerut’s from 51 to 74 and Saharanpur’s from 28 to 72. The number of total positive cases in the state shot up from 483 to 1,100.
The death toll went up from five on April 12 to 17 on April 19, according to state health department figures.
Additional chief secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said: “The idea behind the communication to the districts was to make the underperforming districts get their act together, go intensive in the containment of Covid-19 and wage a war against the virus to eradicate it from Uttar Pradesh.”
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday (April 19) night made it clear to district magistrates that there would be no easing of the lockdown in hotspots and asked the principal secretary, health, not to open 19 sensitive districts, which have reported 10 or more coronavirus cases each. Issuing these instructions at separate meetings, he empowered district magistrates to take a call on lockdown relaxations. He underscored that DMs of 19 sensitive districts should decide on the basis of ‘awareness and alertness’ after intimating the government.
All the district magistrates announced the status quo on the lockdown and continued the restrictions as they were.
On Monday evening, the additional chief secretary announced: “The state now has 322 hotspots.”
HOW CASES JUMPED IN SEVEN DAYS
The number of positive cases rose drastically in several districts between the two Sundays. For instance, Agra had 104 cases on April 12 and the number rose to 240 by April 19. Lucknow’s case count jumped from 32 to 165 during the same period, Gautam Buddha Nagar from 64 to 95; Ghaziabad from 27 to 41; Meerut from 51 to 74 and Saharanpur from 28 to 72. The number of total positive cases in the state rose drastically--from 483 to 1,100.
The death toll went up from five on April 12 to 17 on April 19, according to state health department figures.
40 UNSATISFACTORY LOCKDOWN DISTRICTS
Meerut, Baghpat, Hapur, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahar, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Agra, Mathura, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Bareilly, Badaun, Moradabad, Bijnor, Rampur, Amroha, Sambhal, Lucknow, Kheri, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Barabanki, Sultanpur, Kanpur City, Kanpur Dehat, Kannauj, Jalaun, Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Kushinagar, Basti, Gonda, Bahraich and Balrampur.
