UP’s worst day: over 30,000 cases, 129 deaths

The steep hike in Covid-19 cases continued in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday in what was the state’s worst day since the pandemic began last year. The state reported a record 30,596 infections and 129 deaths in 24 hours.

With this active cases jumped to 1,91,457 while the toll rose to 9,830. The four worst-hit districts – Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, and Kanpur Nagar – have reported 1,13,152 cases this month, which is more than 46 per cent of the 2.23 lakh caseload recorded in UP in the last 18 days. At present, Lucknow has 47,700 active cases, Prayagraj 15,761, Varanasi 14,915, and Kanpur Nagar 11,446. These districts have also reported more than 35 per cent of the deaths.

According to the state data, 22 patients succumbed to the respiratory disease in Lucknow in 24 hours, followed by 15 in Prayagraj, 10 in Varanasi and eight in Kanpur Nagar. While the recovery rate in the state is 76 per cent, the fatality rate is 1.15 per cent. According to Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad, 50 per cent of the patients are in home isolation at present and most of the remaining are receiving treatment in government hospitals or private medical colleges.

He said that the state government was working to increase the number of Covid beds. All districts were instructed on Sunday to add at least 200 beds in their health facilities at the earliest, Prasad added.

Earlier in the day, the state information department said in a statement that ICU capacity and isolation beds in the 12 worst-hit districts would be doubled immediately. Lucknow, Prayagraj, Moradabad, Jhansi, and Kanpur are among these districts. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the Medical Education Minister to increase the facilities of the GSVM Medical College, Rama Medical College and Naraina Medical College in Kanpur.

The government said that following Adityanath’s order to set up 10 new oxygen plants across the state, a liquid oxygen plant with a capacity of 20,000 litres was installed at SGPGI here within the stipulated time frame. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was aiding efforts to set up the other nine plants, the government added.

According to the statement, Adityanath also directed top officials to ensure the availability of oxygen in line with the projected demand in the next 15 days. He issued orders to hospitals to maintain a minimum of 36 hours of oxygen backup at all time.

At a high-level Covid review meeting, the chief minister instructed the Department of Food Safety and Drug Administration to keep a constant watch on the availability of various medicines, including Remdesivir. He asked the health minister to monitor the availability of medicines and the supply chain. Taking note of a fire incident in a hospital in Chhattisgarh, Adityanath told officials to test fire safety equipment at all government and private medical institutions.

According to the government, to date, 91,03,334 people have received the first vaccine dose and 16,10,320 of them have received the second jab.

Meanwhile, DRDO on Sunday approved the construction of a 300-bed Covid hospital at Awadh Shilp Gram here. The Army medical corps will provide treatment at the facility, whose construction had been announced by the state government on Friday along with a hospital each at Haj House and Hotel Golden Blossom here. The three new facilities will have 2,100 beds in total.

In a statement, the state government said Lucknow District Magistrate Roshan Jacob (who took charge after DM Abhishek Prakash tested positive for Covid-19 and isolated himself) issued an order about land acquisition for the facility at Awadh Shilp Gram. The government expects to start admitting patients within a week. According to the government, DRDO officials on Sunday inspected the other two sites.

In an earlier conversation with Chief Minister Adityanath, Defence Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh had offered to provide medical equipment from DRDO.