Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday claimed that while a vaccine against COVID-19 was just about a month away, the infectious virus had already been contained in the state.
"We are about a month away from the COVID-19 vaccine and the state has already contained the pandemic. Developed countries like the US registered a Covid-19 death rate of about 8 per cent, but Uttar Pradesh only saw 1.04 per cent of Covid-19 deaths," Adityanath said.
He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 'Healthy Eastern Uttar Pradesh' drive at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Gorakhpur, where he was the chief guest.
He also said that COVID-19 management had received huge praise from the World Health Organisation and a research paper should be done on it.
"Teamwork always pays rich dividends and medical institutes like AIIMS should realise their role in this regard. More and more research should be done on the field, which is generally better than what is done in labs," he added.
He further reminded the medical fraternity that Gorakhpur was responsible for about 5 crore people, spread over Gorakhpur and Basti divisions, eastern and north Bihar and Nepal.
In related news, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that the third wave of COVID-19 is on the verge of being finished in Delhi.
While addressing a press meet, Jain said, "The death rate of COVID will decrease slowly. The shortage of ICU beds will be addressed soon. ICU beds are used for emergency purposes and also for COVID patients. In Delhi, 13,000 beds are lying vacant. Delhi is the largest state with so many vacant beds. We have 18,800 beds in hospitals in total."
Taking about the vaccine trials, he said, "No vaccine has been approved by the central government yet. As per guidelines, healthcare and frontline workers will be vaccinated first. Delhi people need not be worried as Delhi government is well-equipped. We have also got some cold storage facility for vaccines as well.
(With ANI inputs)