With the surge in novel coronavirus infection cases in the state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered that all offices - both government and private - in the worst-affected districts will work at 50 per cent capacity and has also issued order for setting up three dedicated Covid hospitals in state capital Lucknow.
He also asked the officials to ramp up Covid testing to over two lakh per day.
"All government and non-government offices in Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Varanasi and Prayagraj should operate with 50 per cent human resource of their capacity or on shift basis. Work from home culture should be promoted in these four districts," Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in a high-level meeting here on Friday.
The chief minister instructed the officials concerned to conduct Covid testing work at full capacity. "Conduct two lakh Covid tests every day and out of these one lakh tests must be done using RT-PRC method," he added.
Yogi Adityanath also asked the officials to set up three new dedicated Covid hospitals in the state capital in the next three days. These dedicated Covid hospitals will have isolation beds, ventilators, BiPAP and High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) machines.
The chief minister directed that a 300-bed Covid hospital should be operated in Balrampur Hospital in Lucknow while Era Medical College and TS Mishra Medical College be converted into Covid hospitals.
Yogi said that after the spread of COVID-19 infection in several districts of UP, the government had already ramped up health facilities in the state.
"Patients from other places also come to Lucknow for treatment hence the state capital should have better medical infrastructure," he said and asked the officials to make arrangements for additional human resources so that the patients could get better medical facilities.
The chief minister also issued directive to increase Covid vaccinations in Lucknow, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Agra, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Varanasi.
He said that for effective prevention of COVID-19, action should be taken in accordance with the mantra of 'Test, Trace, Treat'.
In Uttar Pradesh, there are around 125 laboratories in the public sector and 104 in the private sector for Covid tests.
The chief minister also emphasised to maintain adequate availability of oxygen, health personnel, medicines, medical equipment and back-ups in Covid hospitals. He also issued guidelines for increasing the beds of Level-2 and Level-3 Covid hospitals.
"There will be no dearth of resources and the hospital administration should inform the government immediately in case of any need," he said.
He ordered the senior officials to ensure vigilance and complete compliance with the Covid protocol, including social distancing and shift-wise working in the offices.
The chief minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for the celebration of Tika Utsav from the birth anniversary of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule on April 11 to the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar on April 14, 2021. He said on the call of the prime minister, Tika Utsav would be organised in the entire state. He said that people of the targeted age group of the state should participate in the Tika Utsav.
He directed the officials to chalk out an action plan for the successful organisation of Tika Utsav and said that special attention should be paid to social distancing and mandatory use of masks in this programme.
