Get IIT-K to analyse Covid curve in all districts: Yogi

Make all arrangements for Covid-safe vote counting process, says chief minister

LUCKNOW : Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday asked officials to engage Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) for rigorous analysis of the Covid curve in all the 75 districts of the state. Such analysis would help in pandemic management. “In view of the Covid peak, experts all over the country have been coming up with analysis. Coordinate with IIT-K for district-wise rigorous analysis of UP,” he said while reviewing the Covid-19 situation in the state.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday asked officials to engage Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) for rigorous analysis of the Covid curve in all the 75 districts of the state. Such analysis would help in pandemic management. “In view of the Covid peak, experts all over the country have been coming up with analysis. Coordinate with IIT-K for district-wise rigorous analysis of UP,” he said while reviewing the Covid-19 situation in the state.

Explaining the chief minister’s directive, a senior state government official said that various experts had been doing analysis using technology and mathematics to indicate how and when the Covid infection or recovery graph would rise and fall.

The IIT-K already has been doing such analysis and has made them public.

It would do more as and when the state government asked it to do so.

Professor Abhay Karandikar, director of IIT-K, said: “This is a part of a national super model where along with leading experts, doctors, and IIT-K Prof Manindra Agrawal have been working on predicting the peak. The prediction of peak done district wise has shown remarkable fit with observed data and hence reliable estimates can be done. This will help plan the medical emergencies. However, this is just a model and we need to be prepared for the worstcase scenario.”

The chief minister also asked officials to ensure adherence to Covid-19 norms during the counting of panchayat election votes on Sunday.

“Make all arrangements for smooth and Covid-safe counting process. Ensure that all the counting centres have rapid antigen test (for quick testing of Covid) right outside the centres. The health department must make all related arrangements for this,” he said.

“The counting process must happen following all Covid safety protocols. Appoint a separate senior police officer for each of the districts with regard to the counting of votes for the panchayat polls,” he said.

Yogi said the state was now also getting oxygen from Jamnagar (Gujarat), Durgapur and Barjora (West Bengal) and Rourkela (Odisha) to augment supply.

Create a manpower bank

Retired doctors, retired army personnel, experienced paramedics, and final year students of medical and paramedical courses should be engaged as there would be the need for trained human resource in hospitals in view of the fast-changing scenario, he said.

“It would be better if we have a manpower bank in the state so that we can deploy people as and when they are needed,” he said.

He asked the medical education minister to work on the idea. In the last 24 hours, the number of recoveries (38,826) was higher than the number of fresh Covid-19 cases (30,317), the chief minister said.

He also said that the state 2,66,326 conducted tests of which nearly half were RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) tests in the past 24 hours.

Medical help for pregnant women

The chief minister also asked for creating a system for ensuring medical attention to pregnant women in the state.

They should get ambulance facility and medical help immediately when required, he said to the officials.