Lucknow, July 20 Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to scale up surveillance, follow-up and contact tracing in the battle against COVID-19.
The Chief Minister held a late-night meeting on Sunday after the COVID-19 tally in Uttar Pradesh rose to 49,247 with the highest single-day jump. The death toll reached 1,146 after 38 fatalities were reported in the state.
The total number of discharged cases in the state is 29,845 so far, according to the information given by the state health department.
The Chief Minister directed officials to develop effective plans to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Yogi Adityanath further said that to control the spread of coronavirus, all District Magistrates, police chiefs, chief medical officers, principals of medical colleges and municipal officials should meet regularly. They should discuss and evolve effective and positive action to control the spread of the virus.
The Chief Minister said that the database of COVID-19 patients should enclose identity proof and phone numbers of those undergoing tests at the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) for swift tracking. Command control centres have been set up in every district of the state.
The Chief Minister said that the ICCC should be well equipped to get back to people who test positive for the virus.
Command centres have been proposed not only to track new cases, but also launch contact tracing, surveillance and provision of ambulances to ferry patients to COVID hospitals.
"All district magistrates and chief medical officers have been asked to get phone numbers and addresses of those who undergo lab tests for the infection. The state government has decided to accelerate rapid antigen testing that yields quick results," said Additional Chief Secretary Home, Avanish Awasthi.
Awasthi further said that officials have been asked to monitor COVID testing on the ground and address problems faced by hospitals.
"Besides cleaning and sanitization, the hospitals should necessarily have an ambulance fleet, wheelchairs, stretchers and oxygen," the Additional Chief Secretary Home said.
The Departments of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Urban Development have been asked to conduct sanitisation and fogging, besides ensuring potable drinking water to people.
Uttar Pradesh reported the highest ever single-day spike of coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours with 2,250 new cases of Covid-19 including maximum 392 cases in Lucknow, followed by 168 in Kanpur, 125 in Noida and 100 in Prayagraj district on Sunday.
The state is implementing a weekend shutdown, joining Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where a Sunday lockdown has been enforced this month.
( With inputs from IANS )