Current wave 30 times more intense than last one: Yogi
LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the current Covid-19 wave was 30 times more intense than the one witnessed last year.
“This is calamity, pandemic. We should not dismiss it as mere viral fever. I, too, got infected and (am) following isolation and all protocols since April 13,” he said in an interaction with editors and senior journalists of various publications and media outlets.
At the same time, he said in the last three days, the number of recoveries each day had been higher in Lucknow than the number of fresh Covid-19 positive cases.
Yogi Adityanath also said that there was no shortage of drugs like Remdesivir.
“When the demand increased, we sent the state plane to Ahmedabad, directly procured it from a pharma company, and brought the consignment to Lucknow the same day. Like oxygen, not all patients need Remdesivir,” he said.
He also underscored, “There will be no dearth of beds, and the bed situation is being monitored and reviewed each day.”
The chief minister said to the senior journalists: “When the first case surfaced in UP last year, we did not have any resources. We had one lab that started with 72 tests in March 2020. Now, we are doing 2.25 lakh tests per day and will escalate it. UP is the only state to have done nearly four crore tests. Last year, 36 districts that did not have even a single ventilator. Today, all districts have ventilators.”
The chief minister alleged there were some vested interests who were engaged in spreading rumours and panic. There had been instances when the same fake distress message was relayed from different social media accounts, he said. There was a need to identify such people and act against them, he added.
Dwelling more on the government’s efforts, he said: “Recently, when the Delhi government announced lockdown, nearly 1.5 lakh migrants arrived in UP. We promptly arranged buses, tests, and quarantine.”
Regarding Covid vaccination, he said that UP was the first state to announce free vaccination for all. The state had nearly 8,000 vaccination centres ready where vaccines will be given to people about 18 years of age from May 1.
At a Covid-19 review meeting earlier in the day, the chief minister aid stress on proper preparations for the new phase of the vaccination drive. Till now, those above 45 years of age were getting inoculated.
The chief minister asked for extensive sanitisation during the corona curfew.
In the last 24 hours, more than 23,000 Covid-19 positive patients had recovered, he noted.
He also asked for promptness in ambulance services for Covid-19 patients, effective implementation of norms in containment zones, providing Covid kit to home isolation patients, and smooth operations in wheat purchase across the state.