‘Step up jabs in dists where pace slow’

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said vaccination should be stepped up in the Uttar Pradesh districts like Sambhal, Agra, Rampur and Jalaun where the pace is slow.

Reviewing Covid-19 situation virtually at a meeting with Team-19, Yogi said vaccination was a security shield and, keeping this in view, all eligible persons should be vaccinated. Special vaccination camps should be set up in schools and colleges, he said, adding that a special campaign should be launched for the vaccination of children in February.

He asked for consistent streamlining of arrangements made for protection from Covid-19 infection. Contact tracing played an important role in containing Covid-19, he said, adding that the screening committees worked to screen the infection during the last wave and helped in containing it. Similar efforts were needed this time and statewide programmes for surveillance should be launched, he added. The members of screening committees and health workers should go door to door to identify those with Covid-19 symptoms, he added. He also said medical kits should be made available for suspected Covid-19

patients and a list should be prepared of those with incomplete vaccination, Yogi said. He laid stress on strict adherence to Covid-19 protocol

At this meeting, Yogi was informed that 17,776 new cases of Covid-19 infection were reported across UP in the past 24 hours. He was also informed that 20,532 persons were discharged following treatment and the number of active Covid cases in the state was 98,238 now. In all, 2,30,753 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the state in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of tests in Uttar Pradesh to 9,69,73,563 till now.