Directing officials to ramp up Covid testing to 50,000 per day, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered that sample collection in Varanasi, Ballia, Ghaziabad and Jhansi be increased so that the real picture of the coronavirus infections could emerge.

“Of the 50,000 tests, at least 30,000 should be done by RT-PCR, 18,000 to 20,000 by rapid antigen method and 2,000 to 2,500 by TrueNat machines. This distribution will speed by testing,” Yogi said while chairing an Unlock review meeting at his official residence in Lucknow on Monday.

The chief minister stressed on cleanliness and sanitation drives on every Saturday and Sunday with the aim to control COVID-19 as well as other vector diseases.

“Nodal officers for districts should monitor the progress in their earmarked districts from headquarters,” he said.

Yogi further said that markets would remain open from Monday to Friday while weekly off would be observed on Saturdays and Sundays so that these days could be used for sanitisation. He directed door-to-door screening by surveillance teams.

“People with symptoms of the infection should be subjected to medical testing and coronavirus positive patients should be sent to proper medical facilities. Senior doctors should take rounds in hospitals and all precautions should be taken to save police personnel from the infection,” the chief minister said.

Yogi called for extra caution in districts of Varanasi, Jhansi, Kanpur Nagar, Bareilly, Deoria, Gorakhpur, Ballia and Azamgarh that have high infection rates and said that mobile testing vans be pressed into service there.

The chief minister also laid stress on using masks and maintaining social distancing and told officials to create awareness among people about this.

Yogi also directed Health department and Medical Education department to keep a tab on works by maintaining regular communication with the chief medical officers.