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Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel on Sunday praised the performance of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in controlling the pandemic.
Presiding over an all-party meet on the pandemic, the governor favoured the punitive measures for making people follow the preventive measures like wearing the masks. She said people would comply with the Covid protocol only if the violators were punished.
The  governor said ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had adopted a very proactive approach in tackling the pandemic and taking prompt measures for ensuring relief to all sections of society in the hour of crisis.
She said no chief minister in the country had travelled across the state during the pandemic as done by Yogi Adityanath. The governor said during the last one year the government worked in a very planned and coordinated manner and all agencies and institutions of the state worked as a cohesive team.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the state government was committed to protect both the lives and livelihood of the common people.
"We successfully handled the first wave of the coronavirus and we will emerge as victorious in tackling the second wave," he said.
Expressing concern over the second wave of the pandemic, chief minister appealed to people to sincerely follow the Covid protocol like using masks and washing hands with soap and using sanitisers.
"Need of the hour is to sensitise the common people about the dangers of the virus and make them sincerely follow the Covid protocol like wearing the masks and washing hands and using sanitisers. New reports suggest that the virus is now air-borne and wearing of the masks is the most essential for safety," the chief minister said.
Yogi Adityanath said the worst affected districts were Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad Saharanpur and Jhansi.  
"I have toured a couple of districts while Medical Education Minister Suresh Khanna and Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh have visited several districts. The cabinet will meet here on Monday and we will discuss the coronavirus issue and will decide deputing ministers to monitor and visit other affected districts," the chief minister said.
Listing the measures taken by the government, the chief minister said fresh instructions had been issued for panchayat elections for preventing the gathering of more than 100 persons in a meeting and 50 persons in a room. He said the fire tenders and spray machines with the municipal bodies and sugar mills had been deployed for spraying of sanitisers in urban areas.
The leaders of the opposition parties -- Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party -- praised the measures taken by the state government in tackling the first wave and now the second wave of the pandemic. They assured the government of their full support to the measures being taken by the state government for containing the pandemic.
BSP leader  in UP assembly Lalji Verma, thanked the government  for convening  all-party meet and also assured of all support to the government for the compliance of the Covid protocol.
Suhail Ansari, MLA, representing the Congress also praised the Yogi Adityanath government for Covid control in the first wave. He said, "We all expect the government and the officials to control the current wave with the same success as was done during the first phase."
The meeting concluded on a promising note with all the participants expressing faith in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's strategy to contain COVID-19.