PremiumAmid the surge in novel coronavirus cases and the state government's attempts to provide Covid-19 vaccines to all its citizens over 18 years, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday announced that jabs for 18-44 age group to be launched in 11 more districts of the state on Monday.
Beneficiaries can register themselves online for the COVID-19 vaccine. The state government is receiving enough vaccines with help of the Central government, CM Yogi said. "Vaccine wastage had come down further," he added.
The announcement comes a day after Adityanath said a massive coronavirus vaccination drive will be initiated for 18-44 years age group in the state from May 10. He said the drive will be conducted in 17 municipal corporations and Gautam Buddh 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 said.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh'ss partial 'Corona curfew' has been extended by a week till 7 am on May 17 (Monday), informed the Additional Chief Secretary Navneet Sehgal earlier today.
Earlier, the restrictions were set to be lifted tomorrow morning.
During this period, all essential services will be allowed and vaccination drive will continue, stated Sehgal. It was also decided to intensify the sanitisation drive in all the 75 districts, he added.
He stated that the decision came after a meeting chaired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today.
Earlier, speaking to reporters in Bareilly, Adityanath had said despite being the most populous state in the country, Uttar Pradesh is fighting the disease effectively.
He underlined that vaccination is the best way to defeat the infection, adding that 45 lakh vaccines have been administered to people above the age of 45 years.
In the age group of 18-44 years, more than one lakh vaccines have been administered. The vaccination for people in this age group started on May 1 for seven districts in the state, namely Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Bareilly, he said.
Talking about the achievements of his government in fighting the pandemic, the chief minister said, "There were doubts that COVID-19 positive cases will touch the one lakh-mark by May 5, and today is May 8. The count of fresh cases on Saturday stands at 26,847. We have proved to be successful in COVID management.
“The second doubt was that cases will increase during the panchayat polls. The panchayat elections ended on April 19, and there has been a continuous drop in the number of cases," he underlined.
The BJP leader said UP recorded the highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases at 38,055 on April 24, and the highest count of active cases of 3.10 lakh was recorded on April 30.
“In the past eight days (from May 1 to May 8), the COVID-19 cases have registered a drop at 65,000; and the number is continuously decreasing. In the past one week, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Bareilly has dropped by 2,800," he noted.
Adityanath said there were 20-30 oxygen beds in a 500-bed hospital, but today in a 500-bed hospital, every person is feeling the need for oxygen.
"Special plans have been made as the demand for oxygen has grown many times, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved 61 new oxygen plants for UP. The process is on to set up one oxygen plant in every district by the sugarcane department," he said.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh reported 26,847 fresh COVID-19 cases and 298 deaths on Saturday, as per the state health bulletin. With this, the state's infection count has gone up to 14,80,315. The death toll in the state stands at 15,170
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