New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh has announced that the Yogi Adityanath-led government in the state has proven Niti Aayogs apprehension about the Covid situation in UP wrong.
A press release issued by the Uttar Pradesh government said that the Niti Aayog's grim predictions about Uttar Pradesh regarding spike in Covid-19 cases by the end of April have turned out to be wrong, thanks to the proactive approach of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to tackle the second wave of the pandemic.
The UP government said the Aayog had forecast that the state would report on an average 119,000 Covid-19 cases daily by April 30 onwards leaving even Delhi and Maharashtra far behind in terms of number of cases, but thankfully it did not happen.
"The Test, Trace and Treat policy of Yogi Adityanath has done the trick as far as control of Covid is concerned," the press release said.
"The Yogi government with its multi-pronged strategy to contain the virus has been able to restrict the number of cases much below the predicted figures, while cases have started dropping already," the UP government said.
The Niti Aayog report had predicted a very gloomy picture of Uttar Pradesh with daily Covid cases in the state outnumbering Maharashtra, Delhi and Chhatisgarh with 99,665, 67,134 and 61,474 cases, respectively, by April 30.
"The Yogi government has been able to belie the Niti Aayog's prediction, which was probably based on various factors such as population density, influx of migrant workers, lack of sufficient health facilities for Covid patients compared to population, through a focused approach," the statement said.
"The Chief Minister has been working overtime to contain and tackle the virus right since the outbreak of the second wave. He established isolation centres for migrant workers as soon as Maharshtra and Delhi geared up to enforce a fresh spell of lockdown.
"Officials were instructed to test suspected Covid cases among migrants and facilitate treatment for positive cases among them. The state government led by Yogi Adityanath has also started door-to-door campaign to test suspected cases and facilitate timely treatment of positive cases. All these steps have paid off in containing the spread of the virus," the UP government said.
Meanwhile, the government has placed orders for five million doses each of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines and the delivery of the same has also started.
Oxygen plants are being set up across the state while oxygen cylinders and concentrators are also being brought from outside the state to meet the growing demand and to avert such a crisis in future.
The latest data reveals that the prevalence of Covid cases in Uttar Pradesh is much less than many other states despite its huge population and high population density.
In Delhi, Maharshtra and Chhatisgarh, the Covid positive cases reported per million since April 1 are 29,683, 17,115 and 15,845, respectively, against 3,502 cases in UP.
In fact, the maximum number of Covid cases on a single day at 38,000 was reported on April 24 and since then, the graph has been southwards.
In Covid related deaths reported since April 1, Delhi, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh have outpaced Uttar Pradesh. Delhi, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh reported 358, 152 and 196 deaths per million, respectively, against 25 deaths in UP.
Besides, according to a report, 65,000 active cases have been cured in UP in the last eight days alone.
The Yogi government has also made elaborate arrangements for the treatment of Covid patients in home isolation. The CM Helpline is reaching out to thousands of such patients on a daily basis to offer them treatment related advice and other assistance. The helpline has contacted 18,55,788 Covid patients and 95,692 monitoring committees to take stock of the Covid situation in the state and extend help to those in need.
It is worth mentioning here that in Covid testing also, UP ranks second in the country. The state conducted 29,07,807 tests between April 21 and May 4, against 9,55,261 in Delhi, 22,19,500 in Karnataka, and 17,04,517 in Kerala.