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Admitting that the infection rate of the new strain of novel coronavirus was very high, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered that the number of beds in Covid hospitals be increased and has declared that not more than 100 people should be allowed in public gatherings.
"Ensure adequate number of beds in Covid hospitals; for this the number of beds in Covid hospitals should be increased. There should be availability of oxygen, physicians, paramedical and nursing staff, essential medicines and medical equipment in Covid hospitals," the chief minister said while reviewing the unlock system at a high-level meeting convened at his official residence here on Monday.
He said that Covid and non-Covid hospitals should be established to maintain effective arrangements for treatment of all types of diseases. He said the ambulance services should be run smoothly and the ambulance used for Covid patients should not be used for non-Covid patients.
"The infection rate of the new strain of novel coronavirus is very high. Therefore it is necessary to be vigilant. It should be ensured that not more than 100 people gather in public places or at any event," the chief minister said and asked officials of Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Gorakhpur districts to be very vigilant.
The chief minister said that contact tracing should be done effectively to break the chain of infection and RT-PCR test must be done in case of doubt.
"If need be increase the number of tests," he said.
In a separate press briefing, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said that Covid vaccination was slowly gathering pace. He said so far 56.83 lakh people had been given the first dose of the vaccine while 10.78 lakh people had received the second dose.
"Covid vaccination is being done at all medical colleges, district hospitals and community health centres from Monday to Saturday. Vaccination is being done at primary health centres, health and wellness centres on Monday, Thursday and Friday," Prasad said.
He appealed to all the people above 45 years of age to visit the Covid centre to get themselves vaccinated. He said pre-registration could be done on the Co-WIN portal to select the facility centre and day.
"Those who are not able to register online can walk-in to any vaccination centre with their Aadhaar card and get themselves vaccinated. If vaccination is done in private hospitals, then Rs 250 will have to be paid per dose," he said.
Prasad said that a total of 1,61,270 samples were tested during the last 24 hours out of which more than 84,000 tests were done through RT-PCR. He said that the benchmark of more than 14 lakh tests had been set by King George's Medical University in Lucknow.
The additional chief secretary said that 3,999 new cases of novel coronavirus infection had been found in the state during the last 24 hours. He said out of 22,820 active novel coronavirus infection cases in the state, 12,338 were in home isolation. 512 patients were undergoing treatment in private hospitals and the remaining patients were getting free treatment in government Covid hospitals.
Prasad said that special precautions need to be taken at this time. He said the infection was not yet eradicated so one should strictly follow the Covid protocol even after vaccination.
"Continue to wash your hands with soap and water," he said and added that people should avoid going to crowded places.
He said that the elders of the household should get vaccinated.