As threat of Third Covid-19 Wave Looms largely over other states, UP Govt switches on ‘Alert Mode’

Lucknow: Scaling up preventive measures amid the apprehension of the third COVID-19 wave and cases of highly emerging ‘Delta Plus’ variant that have been found in other states of India, the Uttar Pradesh Government on Friday kickstarted a Special Focused 10-day Testing Drive to limit any further spread in the state. 

Upgrading its guard against the highly transmissible new variant of coronavirus that could possibly invite a third Covid-19 wave, the state government will initiate intensive screening of people returning from places like Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and more such states that have been witnessing a greater surge of fresh Covid-19 cases and have reported a high test positivity rate. 

“UP has been maintaining control over the Covid situation fairly well and in view of rising cases in other states, we must intensify our contact tracing operation. The objective of this 10-day Focused Screening Drive is to enable early detection if any followed by early treatment,” asserted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath while issuing directives to the Senior officials in a high-level Covid review meeting on Friday.  

The 10-day Special Focused Testing Drive is divided in a way to cover the entire state in order to remove any risk of further transmission. The drive will be conducted for 5 days in rural areas and 5 days in urban areas. 

With the second wave of Covid-19 receding and the ongoing monsoon season, the Yogi Adityanath government has also geared up to combat vector-borne diseases, such as encephalitis and malaria. 

The Chief Minister has already asked officials to make special efforts to improve surveillance and keep the spread of these diseases in check to restore normalcy in the state in order to save both ‘Lives and Livelihood’ of people.

Aiming to break the chain of infection and keep villagers safe from covid-19 infection, the state government has deployed more than 70,000 Surveillance committees. House to house visits undertaken in a mammoth drive in over 97,000 villages of UP to identify and isolate COVID+ve citizens, trace contacts and distribution of free medicine kits, pulse oximeter and thermometers, has been serving as a model for other states to replicate and was also earlier lauded by the World Health Organization and several other experts internationally as well as by the NITI Aayog.

As many as 6 districts get Covid-free; UP limits fresh infections at 88

With six districts (Aligarh, Kasganj, Shravasti, Hathras, Mahoba and Lalitpur) adding to Uttar Pradesh’s success in crushing the resurgent coronavirus, the state’s Recovery Rate has climbed up to a remarkable 98.6 percent.

In another significant accomplishment, as many as 38 districts reported no case of covid-19 infection in the last 24 hours, whereas 36 districts reported new cases in just single-digits. Only Lucknow reported fresh cases of coronavirus in double-digits.

Eliminating the deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, out of the 2,60,581 samples tested in the last 24 hours, merely 88 samples tested positive for the Covid-19 infection and as a result the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) has slumped to 0.03 percent in Uttar Pradesh, lower than the lowest post first wave of the pandemic. 

In the same period, another 140 patients also recovered from the infection. The active cases have drastically reduced from a high of 3,10,783 in April to 1339 now, out of which nearly 1118 people are in home isolation.