For the second day in a row, Uttar Pradesh recorded recovery of over 20,000 people in 14 hours against 17, 776 people testing positive for novel coronavirus infection during the same period.

Additional Chief Secretary Amit Mohan Prasad said here on Wednesday that 20,532 Covid-19 patients recovered, giving an indication that the third wave was on the ebb.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the third wave of COVID-19 was under control in Uttar Pradesh and the government was constantly monitoring the situation.

Yogi emphasised that there was no dearth of vaccines and the Health department was keeping constant vigil on the situation through vigilance committees.

He added that door-to-door screening campaigns were carried out in villages and in localities through healthcare workers to detect suspected cases and admit those in need of treatment to hospitals through rapid response teams.

Speaking to the media following a visit to the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Gautam  Buddha  Nagar,  the chief minister said that Gautam Buddha Nagar had already achieved the target of giving first dose of Covid vaccine to 100 per cent of the eligible population whereas the second dose had been administered to 92 per cent of its population.

He added that a total of 62.83 lakh adolescents aged 15-17 years had got the first dose of the vaccine in Uttar Pradesh to date of which 1.16 lakh were in Gautam Buddha Nagar alone. Besides, 5.29 lakh people, including elderly and healthcare workers, had been administered the precautionary dose of the vaccine, he added.

Yogi said that of the 9,500 cases reported in the district in the third wave, only 200 with chronic medical problems were in hospitals, adding that only 0.5 per cent of the patients of the total reported cases were in hospitals in UP. 

He further remarked that of the 551 oxygen plants set up in Uttar Pradesh, 11 were in Gautam Buddha Nagar. He said  the district was fully equipped to deal with COVID-19 cases with 450-bed hospital, including 300 beds with oxygen and 120 with ventilators.

Meanwhile, taking a dig at the opposition parties, the chief minister said that while he had visited Gautam Buddha Nagar several times during his tenure to assess the COVID-19 situation and progress in development projects, the previous governments shied away from visiting the district for lack of development agenda.