Now, UP to have three-day weekend closure

It will be in force from 8pm today till 7am on Tuesday

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday extended the “weekend closure” by a day to cover Monday too. It will now be in force from 8pm on Friday to 7am on Tuesday.

The announcement came on a day on which Uttar Pradesh reported 35,156 fresh Covid-19 infection cases and 298 deaths.

However, all essential services, industrial activities and Covid-19 vaccination will continue as normal, chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced according to a statement issued by his office soon after he held a Covid-19 review meeting with a team of top bureaucrats. This is the third such gradual extension of the weekend closure in as many weeks.

Last week, the closure was from Friday 8pm to Monday 7am. A week prior to that, it was from Saturday 8pm to Monday 7am. And before that, it was from 8pm on Sunday to 6am on Monday.

Mentioning the reason for the extension, Yogi said: “With the number of Covid-19 recoveries rising each day, we need to exercise more caution and alertness. And to cut the rate of infection, these corona curfews have been proving effective.”

A total of 25,613 people recovered from the disease in the past 24 hours, according to official data. So far, 8,96,477 patients have recuperated from Covid-19 in the state.

He also announced: “The Covid treatment facilities that the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) was preparing in Lucknow and

Varanasi are now ready. Soon, they will be activated.”

The chief minister said oxygen supply was steadily improving in the state which was set to receive over 650 metric tonnes (MT) of liquid medical oxygen by the end of the day on Thursday just as it had done on Wednesday.

“The government has linked all its resources for oxygen with the oxygen supply chain. Road, train and air routes are used for the supply chain. The state is getting supply from Roorkee, Dehradun, Jamshedpur and Bokaro etc. Towards increasing the oxygen tanker fleet, the state is also getting some tankers from overseas. Already 64 tankers are transporting oxygen and 20 are engaged in direct supplies to hospitals. The central government will soon send eight new tankers. All tankers are GPS (global positioning system) enabled.”

Yogi laid special emphasis on protecting the police force from Covid-19.

He asked the home and health departments to coordinate on this and also make Covid safety and treatment arrangements at all police lines in the state.

All of them must have Covid-19 helpdesks and isolation wards, he said.

Don’t tolerate bad behaviour with Covid warriors

The government has linked all its resources for oxygen with the oxygen supply chain. Road, train and air routes are used for the supply chain. YOGI ADITYANATH, chief minister, Uttar Pradesh

He also cautioned against bad behaviour with the Covid warriors. “Do not tolerate any bad behaviour of people with the Covid warriors. There have been some reports of misbehaviour with Covid warriors. They are engaged in serving people and the state night and day. The district administration concerned must act strictly against any such incidents,” he said.

He ordered automatic extension of registration of nursing homes and private hospitals by three months.