Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said COVID-19 vaccination for 18-44 age group will be started in 11 more districts in the state on Monday i.e May 10. The announcement comes at a time when the nation is facing an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases which has pushed the healthcare infrastructure to its limit.
Eligible beneficiaries can register for vaccination online via the CoWIN portal or the Aarogya Setu app. Adityanath said UP is receiving enough vaccines with the help of the Centre. "Vaccine wastage has come down further," he added.
On Saturday, the chief minister had said that a massive inoculation drive will be stated in UP for 18-44 age group from May 10. He added that the vaccination drive will be held in 17 municipal corporations and Gautam Budh Nagar area.
"The vaccination drive will be held in Aligarh, Agra, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Bareilly, Meerut, Moradabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Saharanpur, Firozabad, Mathura-Vrindavan, Ayodhya and Shahjahanpur municipal corporations and Gautam Buddh Nagar," the CM had stated.
Earlier today, the UP government extended the statewide lockdown, which was to end on May 10, by a week till 7:00 am on May 17.
During the lockdown, all essential services will be allowed to function and COVID-19 vaccination drive will continue as planned. The UP government has also decided to intensify sanitation drive in all 75 districts of the state.
UP has so far vaccinated over 1 lakh people in 18-44 age group. Vaccination for people in this age group had started on May 1 in seven districts in the state, namely Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Bareilly.
Uttar Pradesh reported 26,636 fresh COVID-19 cases and 297 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry update issued on Sunday morning.