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With the second wave of corona infection permeating to the rural heartland of Uttar Pradesh, deaths have become very frequent but the state government agencies have little or no record to ascertain the exact number of deaths due to the deadly virus.
“Death is very quick. The villagers ignore fever and body ache and treat them as seasonal viral infections and expect it to go with the passage of time. Unfortunately. before they can understand the severity of the corona infection, they die. Cries of women and children from inside houses testify to the death of a kin and these have become quite frequent now.  I cannot quantify as to how many people have died in Attara block in the last one week but I can tell you there is a beeline in Banda crematorium to do thee last rites of the bodies. This was never seen in Banda before. In the absence of space in cremation ground people are cremating people in the fields,” Convener of an NGO Vidya Dham Samiti in Banda, Raja Bhaiya, told this reporter over phone on Monday.
Not only Banda, the reports of deaths are also pouring in from the outskirts of Lucknow. Doctors in Primary Health Centre, Chinhat vouched that almost 50 people have died of fever in Juggaur in the last fortnight. In Rudauli of Barabanki, half a dozen villagers died in Pakkaudi village, prompting the district administration to carry out surveillance. In Bhaupur village of Ayodhya 32 people were found Corona positive which were carried out after our residents died there.
During the first onslaught of coronavirus in 2020, the upcountry remained more or less unaffected because of strict lockdown but this time round, the Panchayat elections and free movement of people, marriages and harvest season led to a massive spurt in Corona infection.
A government official said that the government was alive to this situation and therefore it was launching an extensive testing drive for coronavirus infection in all 97,409 revenue villages of thee state from May 5. The campaign will be run by ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) and Aanganwadi workers
“This is being done to check the transmission in rural areas by identifying positive cases. The number of RRTs (rapid response teams) would be deployed to check the Covid spread. As many as 10 lakh antigen tests will be conducted in rural areas while 10 lakh medical kits will be distributed during the drive. There are around 60,569 surveillance committees constituted at the village level. Lekhpal will be included in the committee, Gram Panchayat Secretary will be the Member Secretary and representatives of Asha, Anganwadikatri, Kotedar, Rojgar Sevak, Chowkidar and others will be the members of these committees,” he said.