Need For Pool Testing In COVID-19 Prevalent Areas, Says Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow:

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday stressed the need for pool testing in COVID-19 prevalent areas.

He expressed satisfaction that pool testing has started in Lucknow, Prayagraj and Agra.

Yogi Adityanath today held a lockdown review meeting of "Team 11" at his official residence. He also underlined the importance of social distancing by the persons under quarantine, saying the staff supervising the quarantine should ensure it, read a statement.

The Chief Minister said that there should be no dearth of oxygen for COVID-19 patients. He instructed officers to check availability of oxygen in Level-1, Level-2 and Level-3 hospitals.

He laid emphasis on the protection of police personnel and medical staff while they are on duty. "They should be equipped with all protective gears and follow the protocol to save themselves from infection," the Chief Minister said.

Yogi Adityanath directed that all the hospitals which are having emergency services shouldensure all the medical staff is properly trained in handling COVID-19 cases. "They, in fact, should hold training programmes," he advised.

He also said that the early results of plasma therapy have shown some positive results. "If it is so, the plasma therapy should be taken forward for further study," he added.

The Chief Minister told the officers to encourage people for downloading the Aarogya Setu app.

Asserting that lockdown has to be maintained strictly, Yogi Adityanath said the inter-district and inter-state movement should be checked strictly. He also ordered sanitising the entire Sadar area of Lucknow.

"The Sadar area is one of the hotspots of the capital," the statement said.

He said that those who have been sent back home after quarantine and returnee students of Kota, who are in home quarantine, should be informed through the Chief Minister helpline "1076" to follow the protocol.

In the meeting, the Chief Minister was apprised of the latest status of community kitchens, doorstep delivery system and foodgrain distribution. He also asked to sanitise shelter homes and community kitchens regularly and the staff engaged should be tested.

Yogi Adityanath reiterated that the availability of essential commodities should be ensured during the month of Ramzan. He also reminded the officials to prepare an action plan to explore new jobs for the labourers who have returned from other states.

The officers present in the meeting included Chief Secretary RK Tiwari, Agriculture Production Commissioner Alok Sinha, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner Alok Tandon, Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Information Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Additional Chief Secretary Finance Sanjiv Mittal and Additional Chief Secretary Basic Education Renuka Kumar, among others.

World

Coronavirus has spread to 185 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 24,95,667 and 1,71,244 have died; 16,66,165 are active cases and 6,58,258 have recovered as on April 21, 2020 at 5:46 pm.

India

In India, there are 18,985 confirmed cases including 603 deaths. The number of active cases is 15,122 and 3,260 have recovered as on April 21, 2020 at 5:00 pm.