The efforts made by the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government during the COVID-1pandemic succeeded in saving at least 85,000 lives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.

“If Yogi ji and his teammates had not prepared well, if U.P. would have also faced destruction like in America, then today in U.P. not 600 but 85,000 persons could have lost their lives,” the PM said.

Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India

Mr. Modi was drawing a parallel between the COVID-19 situation in U.P., the most populous State with around 24 crore people, and the U.S., which has around 33 crore citizens.

Despite the “means and resources and modern technology” at its disposal, the U.S. was badly affected by COVID-19 and lost 1.25 lakh lives but in comparison, U.P. has recorded around 600 deaths so far, Mr. Modi said.

Speaking through videoconference at the launch of the ‘Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rozgar Yojana’, the Prime Minister also compared the U.P. situation with four major European countries, saying the accomplishment made by U.P. could only be understood by drawing parallels.

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Mr. Modi said that the combined population of England, France, Spain and Italy was similar to that of U.P. alone, roughly 24 crore, but the death toll due to COVID-19 in these four countries amounted to 1.30 lakh as compared to 600 in U.P..

Despite being “developed” nations and despite the efforts made by their governments, these countries “did not get the same success in saving their citizens that U.P. achieved,” Mr. Modi said.

Such results could not have been imagined under previous State governments, Mr. Modi added, as he lavished praise on Mr. Adityanath.

The way Mr. Adityanath handled the situation with sensitivity, it pulled the State out of big danger and served the nation as well, the PM said.

“Previous governments would have made excuses about the number of hospitals, beds in hospitals and would have avoided the challenge. But Yogi ji understood the seriousness of the situation and worked on a war footing,” the PM said.

What U.P. did was a precedent for the entire world, he added.