Stating that the first two waves of the Covid pandemic were “markedly different”, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said in Jhansi that his government is making all efforts to face the third wave.
Adityanath, who was in Jhansi as part of his statewide tour of Covid-hit districts, said that 15 new oxygen plants were being set up in the Bundelkhand region, of which six will be in Jhansi.
“The first and the second wave of Covid-19 are altogether different from each other. The state did not face any oxygen shortage in the first wave. But since the disastrous second wave hit the state, the demand for oxygen supply increased and we faced a crisis,” he said, adding that his government pulled up all stops to avoid oxygen shortage in the state.
“We are fighting vigorously with the support of our public representatives, administrative team, health workers, corona warriors and most importantly, with the support of our people. The result of this collective fight is in front of us. The state is successfully moving forward in its fight against the pandemic,” the chief minister said.
He also said that a 500-bed facility ward at the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi — the work for which started in 2012 during the previous government — would soon be completed.
According to sources, the state has asked the Centre to allocate Rs 70 crore from the PM Cares fund to complete the pending work.
NS Sanger, the principal of the medical college, said that in anticipation of a third wave, projects worth Rs 12 crore to augment health infrastructure are required for tackling the situation.
Adityanath met local public representatives, doctors and officers and held a Covid review meeting with them. He also inspected the Jhansi Integrated Covid Command Centre and expressed his concern about the infected patients in the district. He gave strict instructions to officials not to show any kind of negligence towards serious patients, an official released said.
The CM also visited Gandhi Nagar gram panchayat in Badagaon, where he interacted with surveillance committees. “Satisfied with the commitment shown by the frontline workers, the CM congratulated everyone and expressed happiness on their work in the village. The CM also spoke about the ‘Mera Gaon: Corona Mukt Gaon’ initiative and urged villagers to take part in the exercise to make their village Covid-free,” the official release said.
Later in the day he visited Banda district and inspected the medical facilities there.
In Banda, he said that while experts had predicted that between April 25 and May 10, Uttar Pradesh would report around 1 lakh cases per day and the situation would be out of control, the state managed to control the spread using the method of test, trace and treat.
“We reported around 38,000 cases on April 26, the maximum to date followed by a consistent slide. In the last 24 hours, around 4,800 cases were reported, a drop of 34,000 from the peak. The active cases have come down from 3.10 lakh to 84,800 within just 22 days in the state,” he added.