Tag: UP Lockdown

  • Shops, markets in UP can operate from 6 am to 10 pm Monday onwards

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday extended the relaxation in the coronavirus curfew imposed in the state by two hours, a senior official said here.

    As per the new guidelines issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi, markets, shops and establishments can now remain open from 6 am to 10 pm from Monday to Friday.

    Weekly closure will be observed on Saturdays and Sundays, it said.

    The new arrangement takes effect on July 12, the order said.

    Earlier, the relaxation in the coronavirus curfew was from 7 am to 9 pm from Monday to Friday.

  • COVID-19: UP reports 188 fresh deaths, 3,278 cases; infection tally at 16,83,866

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh reported 188 fresh COVID-19 fatalities on Thursday as the death toll due to the viral disease rose to 19,900, while the infection tally reached 16,83,866 with 3,278 new cases, officials said.

    “In the last 24 hours, 3,278 fresh cases were reported, while 6,995 COVID-19 patients recovered from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 16,05,696,” Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters.

    The state witnessed 188 fresh deaths, taking the toll to 19,900 from 19,712 on Wednesday.

    The recovery rate in the state is now 95.4 per cent, while the number of active cases came down by 81.26 per cent since April 30 when a peak of 3,10,783 active cases were reported.

    The active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 58,270, the official said, adding that the figure includes 34,508 patients who are in home isolation.

    In the last 24 hours, more than 3.47 lakh samples were tested for the novel coronavirus infection in the state, while overall more than 4.80 crore samples have been tested.

    Prasad said over 1.70 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the state so far.

    Of this, 1.36 crore beneficiaries have taken the first dose and 33.92 lakh people have taken both the doses.

  • Coronavirus curfew extended till May 31 in UP; active cases drop below one lakh

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: The partial coronavirus curfew in Uttar Pradesh has been extended till 7 am on May 31, a state government statement said here on Saturday.

    Earlier, the UP government had imposed the restrictions till 7 am on May 24.

    “The Uttar Pradesh government is committed to safeguard the life and livelihood of people of the state. Keeping this in mind, the policy of partial coronavirus curfew was adopted,” the statement said, adding that the measure gave positive results.

    “In this regard, a decision has been taken to extend the partial coronavirus curfew in the state till 7 am on May 31,” the statement added.

    Coronavirus vaccination drive, industrial activities and other essential services will continue during the period, the statement said.

    Active COVID-19 cases in the state dropped below 1 lakh on Saturday and settled at 94,482, an official said.

    The infection tally in the state mounted to 16,65,176 with 6,046 fresh cases, while 226 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 18,978.

    Of the 226 new deaths, state capital Lucknow recorded 21 fatalities, followed by 14 in Varanasi and 12 in Gorakhpur and Kanpur and Meerut 10 each, among others, the UP government said in a statement here.

    Gorakhpur reported 755 new cases, Meerut 421, Deoria 292, Lucknow 291, Varanasi 231, Gautam Buddh Nagar 213 and Bulandshahr 201.

    In the past 24 hours, 17,540 COVID-19 patients have recovered from the disease, taking the total number of cured persons in the state to 15,51,716.

    Additional Chief Secretary (health) Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters that the recovery percentage of the state is over 93 per cent.

    The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 94,482.

    On April 30, there were over 3.10 lakh active cases in UP, Kumar said.

    More than 3.06 lakh samples were tested for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of samples tested in the state over 4.64 crore.

    UP has become the first state to conduct over three lakh tests in one day, Kumar said.

  • UP: 17-year-old dies after ‘police thrashing for violating corona curfew’; constable suspended

    By PTI
    UNNAO: A 17-year-old boy died Friday after he was allegedly beaten up by the police here for “violating” the ongoing ‘corona curfew’ in the state, his family claimed, following which a constable was suspended and a homeguard jawan sacked.

    The incident took place in Bhatpuri locality in Bangarmau area when the boy was selling vegetable outside his house.

    The police said in a statement that an FIR will be registered against the policemen involved and the entire matter probed.

    His family alleged that the boy was caught by a constable for allegedly violating ‘corona curfew’ and thrashed with a stick.

    He was later taken to a police station, where he was again thrashed following which his condition deteriorated and he was rushed to the Community Health Centre, where he was declared dead, the family alleged.

    Agitated with the police action, the locals created a jam at Lucknow road crossing, demanding action against the guilty, a government job and compensation for the victim’s family.

    Later, the police said in a statement, “Constable Vijay Chodhury has been suspended with immediate effect in the matter and services of homeguard Satyaprakash have been terminated. The entire matter will be probed and an FIR will be registered against the policemen.”

    Senior officers are reaching the spot to meet the family members.

    The Uttar Pradesh government has imposed ‘corona curfew’ in the state till 7 am on May 24 to curb the spread of coronavirus cases.

  • Yogi government’s COVID managment faces Opposition, HC heat amid lack of medicines, meals among home isolation patients

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government as to why it was not providing medicine and meals to Covid-19 patients in home-isolation as it was doing during the first wave of the pandemic.

    The Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court further sought a response of the state government on paramedical staff not being provided lodging facility after duty hours as they risk infecting their own family members if they visit home after taking care of Covid-19 patients.

    It also asked the state counsel to obtain instructions from the government on the shortages of vaccines for the 18-44 age group.

    A bench of justices Rajan Roy and Saurabh Lavania passed the order on a PIL moved by lawyer HP Gupta.

    Hearing the petition through video conferencing, the bench directed the additional chief standing counsel HP Srivastava to seek detailed instructions on the issues.

    Earlier, the court kept open the question of maintainability of the PIL at the Lucknow bench because the Allahabad HC has already been hearing issues related to Covid-19 in the state on suo-motu basis.

    The bench said, “While we are conscious of the fact that similar issues have taken the attention of this Court at Allahabad in a PIL, there are certain contentions which need to be taken note of, therefore, keeping the question open as to whether this petition should be entertained and proceeded with or the petitioner should be asked to intervene in the proceedings pending at Allahabad, we take note of contentions raised by the counsel for the petitioner Dr V K Singh, here.”

    ALSO READ | ‘If I speak up, I face treason charge’: Another BJP MLA questions Yogi government’s handling of pandemic

    The bench further asked the counsel for the high court administration Gaurav Mehrotra to obtain instructions as to whether there is feasibility of establishing a makeshift Covid-19 hospital on the new campus of the HC at Gomti Nagar for lawyers, judicial staff, employees and their family members.

    Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday hit out at the Yogi Adityanath dispensation over the alleged low COVID-19 testing in Uttar Pradesh, and asked if the state government was preparing to make way for a third wave and then fight it.

    Her attack on the government came a day after the Allahabad High Court said the entire medical system in villages and small cities of Uttar Pradesh is at God’s mercy (‘Ram bharose’).

    “Only 800-1,000 RT-PCR tests are being conducted every day for the same 32 lakh population of Bijnor. The honourable high court has said that 4,000-5,000 RT-PCR tests should be done daily in a district like Bijnor or else we are inviting the third wave,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

    “Is the UP government preparing to make way for the third wave and then fight it,” the Congress general secretary said, tagging media reports on the high court’s observations.

    If a self-praising government was not there in Lucknow, it would have tried to look at the reality of COVID-19 in the ‘Indira Gramin Kshetra’ just 35 km away, Gandhi said in another tweet in Hindi and shared a media report on it.

    ALSO READ | Congress accuses UP government of hiding data about COVID deaths amid state’s downward trend in fresh infections

    “Neither there is testing, nor treatment, nor medical kits, but the government says that everything is fit,” she said.

    The Allahabad High Court had made the ‘Ram Bharose’ observation while hearing a PIL over the coronavirus spread and the condition of quarantine centres in the state.

    A high court bench of justices Siddharth Verma and Ajit Kumar made the observation while taking into account the death of Santosh Kumar (64), who was admitted to an isolation ward at a Meerut hospital.

    Gandhi and other Opposition leaders have hit out at the state government over the handling of the COVID-19 situation, while the UP government has been rejecting all such criticism.

  • COVID crisis: Yogi government ramps up surveillance in UP villages, tests over 2.5 lakh people in a week

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW/NOIDA: COVID-19 surveillance teams in Uttar Pradesh have visited over three crore houses at block levels in districts and tested over 2.5 lakh people in “rural areas” in a week, the state government said on Thursday.

    Surveillance teams in the state recently accelerated the pace to “trace, test and treat” coronavirus patients and started door-to-door campaigns in rural areas on instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the government said in a statement.

    “According to the weekly report on the campaign, the Covid test teams have visited around 32 million (3,19,37,797) houses in different blocks of districts within a week, between May 5 and 12, against the targeted 3,30,69,010 houses for the period,” the government said.

    “Similarly, the teams conducted a total of 2,57,845 tests in remote blocks of the districts and the government has also distributed medicine kits to 3,74,685 Covid patients so far,” it added.

    The UP government said it firmly believes that “test, trace and treat” are the only effective ways to contain and fight coronavirus and is leaving “no stone unturned” to achieve this end.

    The government said Uttar Pradesh recently set a “new record” by conducting 2.96 lakh Covid tests in a single day.

    Earlier, the chief minister had directed the surveillance team to undertake door-to-door surveys, increase pace of vaccination and double the capacity in order to contain the spread of the virus and ensure prompt treatment of positive cases, it added.

    Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday recorded 17,775 fresh COVID-19 cases that pushed the infection count to 15,80,980, while 281 new fatalities took the death toll to 16,646 in the state, according to official figures.

  • Count of active COVID-19 cases falling in UP, recovery rate improving: Official

    The highest single-day spike of over 38,000 infections was reported on April 24, and since then, there has been a steady decline, he added.

  • Oxygen shortage, crowded crematoriums: UP’s health infrastructure crumbles as COVID wrecks havoc

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: A record single-day spike of 34,379 COVID-19 cases and 195 fatalities pushed Uttar Pradesh’s infection tally to 9,76,765 and the death toll due to the disease to 10,541, the state government said on Thursday.

    As many as 16,514 patients recovered from the disease in the state in a span of 24 hours, taking the total count of recoveries to 7,06,414, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said here.

    On Wednesday, the state registered 33,214 COVID-19 cases and 187 deaths.

    Uttar Pradesh now has 2,59,810 active cases, of which over two lakh are in home isolation, Prasad said.

    Among the fresh cases, Lucknow reported the maximum 5,239 cases, followed by 2,013 in Allahabad, 1,813 in Varanasi, 1,684 in Meerut, 1,516 in Kanpur, 530 in Gautam Buddh Nagar besides others, a health bulletin issued here said.

    The state capital reported the maximum 19 deaths followed by Allahabad and Kanpur -18 each, Varanasi- 10, Gautam Buddh Nagar 11 among others, it added.

    In Lucknow the number of those discharged rose to 6,207, it said At a review meeting here, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to make oxygen concentrators available to districts where there is a high demand while seeking support from the Centre for its availability, an official statement said.

    The chief minister said the death of any person in the state is unfortunate, and directed officials to give due honour to the aggrieved families and ensure cremations following COVID-19 protocols.

    Adityanath said the availability of essential medicines and oxygen was satisfactory, and asked officials to keep an eye on the situation.

    “There is no shortage of tankers/cylinders but keeping in mind the changing situation, additional tankers and cylinders should be arranged, and it should be ensured that there is no black-marketing of oxygen and other medicines,” he added.

    The process of setting up oxygen plants in private medical colleges should be done fast, the chief minister said.

    He directed officials to ensure transparency in allotment of beds in hospitals, and asked them to arrange transport facilities for migrant labourers and also to see that they are kept in quarantine centres for at least seven days.

    Meanwhile, long, serpentine queues of people awaiting the cremation of their dear ones has become a common sight at various crematoriums in the city amid the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

    According to officials, there has been an increase in the number of bodies brought to the crematoriums as compared to the pre-COVID times.

    Family members of coronavirus victims claimed that they have to wait for three to four hours to complete the last rites of their deceased relatives as around 80 to 100 bodies are brought to the crematoriums everyday as against 10 to 20 bodies before the pandemic outbreak.

    Chief Medical Officer, Agra, R C Pandey, however, said the rising deaths may also be due to non-COVID reasons like heart failure, chest infections, among others.

    The management committees of the crematoriums in the city have started issuing coupons and tokens to people to avoid inconvenience to them.

    Tajganj cremation centre near Taj Mahal is one of the main crematoriums of Agra where electric and non-electric centres function.

    Shri Chhetra Bajaja committee manages and takes care of the premises.

    Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, in-charge, Shri Chhetra Bajaja committee said, “The situation is worsening these days. Around 35-40 bodies are brought to the electric crematorium at Tajganj everyday these days. Over 50 bodies reach the main crematorium daily.”

    “In normal days (pre-COVID times), 10-15 bodies used to be cremated at the electric centres, and 10-20 bodies at non-electric centres. The numbers (of bodies) have gone up since the outbreak of coronavirus,” he said.

    Gupta said the crematoriums are now issuing tokens to people waiting for conducting the last rites of their relatives.

    “To avoid inconvenience to family members, we are issuing tokens to them for conducting the last rites. Due to the heavy load, we have to ask the people to wait for two to four hours as there are only four electric furnaces at the electric crematorium at Tajganj,” he said.

    A caretaker at a crematorium said it was the first time in his life that he had seen such a rush at the cremation centres.

    “I have been working here for about 40 years. This is the first time I have seen such a large number of bodies being brought to the cremation centres,” he said.

    He also said that all available empty spaces at the cremation centres, be it galleries, big grounds or other areas, are being used for cremating bodies.

    Meanwhile, Agra Municipal Commissioner Nikhil Teekaram Funde assured the people of appropriate arrangements at the cremation centres in the city.

    Two private hospitals in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar with around 600 COVID-19 patients on Thursday said they were facing a shortage of oxygen supply and they did not have enough to last them till the next day.

    Meanwhile, in a statement issued late in the night, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Deepak Ohri said admissions to such private hospitals where the number of beds has been increased but suppliers have not been able to provide oxygen as per contract have been “put on hold” for the time being.

    “In such hospitals, no new admissions are being taken. They will resume once oxygen supply is normalised,” Ohri said, adding in all other government and private hospitals, the normal admission process as per bed availability and medical requirement shall continue.

    Officials of Kailash Hospital in Sector 27 said their resources are already “overstretched” and the staff was working beyond duty hours to tackle the influx of patients due to the pandemic.

    Patients at Prakash Hospital in Sector 31 were also left in the lurch due to oxygen shortage.

    Kailash Group Medical director Dr Ritu Vohra said they have around 450 patients across their four facilities in the district.

    Prakash Hospital, which has two facilities, said in a statement that it has around 150 patients under treatment who need medical oxygen.

    “We have oxygen for seven-eight hours. Since morning, all our group hospitals need oxygen replenishment. We have stopped new admissions due to oxygen shortage.

    In this hospital (Sector 27), we have oxygen that would last only four-five hours,” Vohra said around noon.

    “We are ready to pay extra for oxygen or do whatever it takes because saving the lives of our patients is the top priority for us,” she added.

    Vohra appealed to people from civil society to help the hospital with oxygen replenishment if possible.

    She said the hospital has informed the district administration and all concerned officials regarding the situation and has repeatedly been assured that “replenishment would be done soon” but to no avail.

    At Prakash Hospital, attendants of several patients were seen running from pillar to post to find help while hospital officials said they were facing difficulty in procuring oxygen from their supplier in Haryana.

    “We have been told that the hospital has oxygen supply that will last only two to three hours and that patients should be taken to some other hospital,” a patient’s attendant standing outside the hospital told reporters.

    Another attendant said, “My daughter is in the hospital for the past few days and now they are saying take her somewhere else. Where do we take her? They should tell me where I should take her, I would do that. It’s such a failure.”

    Gautam Buddh Nagar Chief Development Officer Anil Singh, who visited Prakash Hospital, said he has been told about the difficulty in the procurement of medical oxygen from Haryana and the district administration is trying to resolve the issue.

    On patients being asked to move to other facilities, Singh told reporters, “If such a situation arises, then we will make all arrangements for it.”

    CMO Ohri said all efforts are being made to tackle challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “There were some rumours doing rounds on social media that admissions to hospitals have been stopped in the district. It is clarified that no such instructions have been given,” he said.

    “All efforts are being made to normalise oxygen availability in the district in consultation with the state government,” he added.

    Besides Kailash and Prakash hospitals, attendants at some other hospitals in Noida and Greater Noida also claimed difficulty in finding oxygen for patients battling COVID-19.

    Gautam Buddh Nagar is one of the worst-hit districts in Uttar Pradesh.

    According to official data, the district has 4,088 active COVID-19 cases and a death toll of 129.

    The state on Thursday revised its order enabling admission of COVID-19 patients in private hospitals with referral of the Integrated COVID Command Center (ICCC) after facing criticism from several quarters.

    According to the rules, only the patients referred by ICCC are admitted in private hospitals, leading to huge rush at the centre for referral letters, drawing criticism on social media and by opposition Congress.

    In a directive sent to all divisional commissioners, district magistrates and all chief medical officers, Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said now COVID patients can be admitted in private hospitals on the basis of their test reports.

    After admission by private hospitals, they will have to report about the cases immediately on the portal of the state government, the order said, adding that these hospitals will have to reserve only 10 per cent beds on which patients referred by ICCC will be admitted.

    According to the arrangement so far, cases of infection are received in the ICCC from where doctors interact with the patients and it is decided which patients need to be admitted to the COVID hospitals and who are to be sent on home isolation.

    “Due to the high cases of infection, this system is not being implemented in a very effective way, due to which it has been decided to change the system. However, the process of admission of COVID-19 infected patients in government hospitals, state medical colleges and private medical colleges will be done through the command center itself,” the order said.

    Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had in a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath demanded the abolition of the need for referral letters for infected patients from ICCC located in the Chief Medical Officer’s Office.

    According to the new system, no referral letter will be needed for patients who are eligible for hospitalisation, if they wish to be admitted to a private COVID hospital.

    Several people had on social media criticised the government over the practice of referral letters of admission.

    As many as nine COVID-19 patients were shifted to the BHU Trauma Centre in Varanasi on Thursday due to the lack of liquid medical oxygen at a private hospital here.

    “The doctors at Trimurti Hospital had informed us about the lack of oxygen. So some patients had to shift to BHU,” said an official.

    “There are nine patients that are being shifted as the hospital is left with just an hour of oxygen supply,” he said.

    “The hospital informed us about the shortage of oxygen at the hospital just two hours before and ask us to shift the patient,” kin of a COVID infected patient told ANI.

    (With AANI Inputs)

  • UP’s COVID death toll surpasses 10,000 mark; state faces oxygen, beds’ shortage

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: The death toll from COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh crossed the 10,000-mark on Tuesday with 162 more fatalities, while the infection tally exceeded nine lakh after detection of 29,754 fresh cases, according to a senior official.

    The state had recorded 167 coronavirus-related deaths, its biggest single-day death count so far, on Monday and the largest one-day spike of 30,596 fresh cases on Sunday.

    The recovery count rose to 6,75,702 in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday with over 14,391 patients discharged in the past 24 hours, Additional Chief Secretary Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters.

    The number of active cases now stands at 2,23,544 in the state, he said.

    The new fatalities and cases pushed the death toll in the state to 10,159 and the infection count to 9,09,405, the senior official said.

    Among the fresh cases, a maximum of 5,014 were recorded in Lucknow, 2,175 in Allahabad, 1740 in Kanpur, 1,637 in Varanasi, 1,287 in Meerut, 913 in Bareilly, 640 in Gautam Buddha Nagar, a health bulletin issued here said.

    Of the fresh deaths, a maximum of 28 were reported from Kanpur, 19 from state capital Lucknow, 13 from Allahabad, eight from Gautam Buddh Nagar and seven from Varanasi, it said.

    On the bright side, the number of recoveries is also increasing.

    While 3,590 patients were discharged in Lucknow, 1,855 were discharged in Varanasi, 1,734 in Allahabad, 954 in Allahabad, the bulletin added.

    Of the total active cases, 1,76,760 are in home isolation, 4,455 are undergoing treatment at private hospitals and the rest are admitted to government hospitals, Prasad said.

    He said over 3.86 crore samples have so far been tested for COVID-19 in the state, which included over two lakh tests on Monday.

    About the ongoing COVID vaccination drive, he said a total of 1,09,34,566 doses were administered to people in the state.

    The state on Tuesday imposed till further orders a weekend curfew in the entire state and a night curfew during weekdays in all districts having more than 500 cases.

    While the night curfew in the districts with 500-plus cases will be effective from 8 pm to 7 am next day starting Tuesday, the weekend curfew will be enforced from Friday 8 pm to Monday 7 am, during which all non-essential activities will be restricted.

    A top UP government official had earlier said the night curfew will be imposed “throughout” the state.

    These decisions, aimed at breaking the transmission chain of the virus spread, were taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

    The night curfew was imposed earlier in Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Allahabad, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bareilly and Muzaffarnagar districts and the Lucknow Municipal Corporation area of the state.

    A state government bulletin issued on Covid-19 situation in the state on Monday had said the districts registering less than 500 cases include Maharajganj (497), Hamirpur (489), Mahoba (387), Sharvasti (354), Baghpat (306), Pilibhit (279), Kasganj (112) and Hathras (89).

    ALSO WATCH:

    On the issue of migrants coming back to the state from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi, Chief Minister Adityanath said the bordering districts of UP must exercise special caution, and provisions should be made for smooth movement of the migrant workers.

    He also asked the Home Department and the Transport Department to coordinate and act to provide adequate facilities for the testing and treatment of the migrant labourers.

    The Mathura district administration has decided to increase 500 oxygen beds within a week in view of the recent surge in novel coronavirus cases, officials said on Tuesday.

    “So far over 500 oxygen beds and almost equal number of general beds are available in Mathura,” District Magistrate Navneet Singh Chahal said.

    He asserted that there is no dearth of hospital beds in the district and the administration is working on a plan to increase the number of oxygen beds.

    While in K D Medical College 600 beds, including 80 oxygen beds, are available, in K M Medical College, 220 beds, including 105 oxygen beds are available, the DM said.

    He said 220 oxygen beds are available in private hospital Nayati and another 100 in Ram Krishna Hospital Vrindavan 100.

    The administration has also issued an order and stationed officers at a Greater Noida oxygen manufacturing plant to check movement of oxygen cylinders, hindering supplies to hospitals in the national capital.

    Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Suhas L Y on Tuesday issued orders posting two senior officers round-the-clock at Inox Air Products Pvt Ltd’s Greater Noida factory that manufacturers and supplies medical oxygen.

    The officers, of the rank of deputy district officer, will “be present at the company site during the allotted hours and ensure adequate supply of oxygen to Covid-19 hospitals” in the Gautam Buddha Nagar district, the order by Suhas said.

    One officer has been posted at the factory from 8 am to 8 pm and another for 12 hours beginning 8 in the evening, according to the order reviewed by PTI.

    The factory supplies medical oxygen to hospitals in Delhi.

    The order has hampered supplies to several hospitals in the national capital.

    Also, the company is unable to supply oxygen from its Rajasthan plant due to restrictions imposed by the state government.

    This is creating an acute shortage in the national capital, three persons aware of the development said.

    Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged the Centre to provide medical oxygen to Delhi, saying some hospitals are going to run out of supplies in a few hours.

    “Serious oxygen crisis persists in Delhi. Some hospitals are left with just a few hours of oxygen,” he tweeted. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said they have just a few hours of oxygen left.

    The hospital has 485 COVID beds, of which 475 are occupied.

    Around 120 patients are currently in the ICU.

    Sources said the hospital needs about 9,500 cubic metres per day of oxygen.

    Against this, it is being supplied about 5,000 cubic metres a day.

    It had oxygen to last just six hours.

    The state  has also decided to administer COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to all those above 18 years of age from May 1.

    The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

    The Cabinet also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing administering of coronavirus vaccine to those above 18 years of age.

    “The PM’s decision will help in better management of COVID and massive vaccination will help in defeating coronavirus. We have decided to vaccinate all above 18 years free of cost. The state government will take forward the vaccination programme with its own resources,” the CM said, according to a statement issued here.

    During the deliberations, the chief minister asked the state Health Department to work out an action plan to conduct the vaccination campaign on a large scale.

    “We have to increase vaccination centres and create a database of people in the target age group,” the CM said.

    In the Cabinet meeting, a detailed discussion was held over the current COVID situation.

    Adityanath said his government was working to save “life and livelihood”.

    “The war against COVID is being fought vigorously under the guidance of the prime minister,” he said, asking all the ministers to monitor the status of coronavirus treatment in districts.

    The CM also directed to take care of migrants returning from other states and keep them at quarantine centres.

    The CM said like the previous year, the success in the fight against the virus can be achieved by keeping the public aware and preventing rumours.

    On Tuesday, the death toll from COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh crossed the 10,000-mark with 162 more fatalities, while the infection tally exceeded nine lakh after detection of 29,754 fresh cases.

    So far, the virus has claimed 10,159 lives in the state, which has reported 9,09,405 infections since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.

    Agra grapples with oxygen shortage, hospital beds

    For over one hour, Richa Singh has been waiting outside the emergency ward of a government hospital here to get her mother-in-law, suffering breathing difficulties and lying inside an ambulance, admitted to the facility.

    After being turned away by many hospitals, she is clueless about where to go now.

    People here are having a tough time to get their ailing family members admitted to hospitals.

    Lack of availability of beds for patients at COVID or non-COVID hospitals, shortage of medical oxygen, inadequate number of RT-PCR testings (considered the gold standard for COVID-19 detection) at centres — the pandemic has hit health services hard in Agra.

    Singh, who originally hails from Agra rural, was waiting outside the emergency ward of the Sarojini Naidu Medical College (SNMC) and Hospital.

    She was perplexed about what to do next as her mother-in-law anxiously waited inside the ambulance, struggling to breathe.

    “I have been waiting to get her admitted to the hospital. She is having breathing difficulties. I am alone and not getting a clear answer as to what to do or where to go because no one has responded,” Singh said.

    She lamented that she tried to get her ailing mother-in-law admitted to other facilities as well, but to no avail.

    The wait is not just outside the hospitals.

    Family members of COVID-19 patients were seen jostling to get remdesivir injections, an antiviral drug, and other medicines prescribed by doctors.

    A long queue of people waiting to give their samples for RT-PCR tests and those at vaccination centres is also a common sight nowadays in the city of the wondrous Taj Mahal.

    Private ambulance operators as the shortage of medical oxygen continues, they are left with no option but to deny patients.

    Some argue that patients’ wait inside ambulances before being admitted to hospitals is taking a toll on medical oxygen availability.

    Ravi Sisodia, state president of the All UP Ambulance Operators Welfare Association, said there are about 400 private ambulances in Agra district, but most of them are lying unused because of the unavailability of oxygen for ambulances.

    “There is a huge demand for ambulances to drop patients to hospitals in Agra or outside the city, but due to acute shortage of oxygen, we are forced to turn them away, ” Sisodia said.

    “The other reason for more consumption of oxygen cylinders is that patients have to wait for long hours in ambulances outside hospitals. Sometimes hospitals refuse to admit patients due to unavailability of beds. In that case, we take the patient to other hospitals until he/she is admitted to a facility,” Sisodia said.

    Agra Chief Medical Officer (CMO) RC Pandey said, “There are 19 hospitals including private and government ones which are being used for COVID-19 patients. We are also trying our best to provide as much as help as we can to the needy.”

    Asked why the patients are made to wait inside ambulances outside SNMC emergency ward, the CMO said it might be due to some other reason and claimed the ward has 50 per cent vacant beds.

    Shortage of remdesivir injection and other medicines for COVID-19 treatment has posed a major challenge to the residents.

    One such resident, Prajal Bhardwaj, said, “I have an urgent need for remdesivir injection for my friend’s father, but it is not available anywhere. I have called the helpline number of the health center as well, but did not get any positive response.”

    When contacted, Drug Inspector Raj Kumar Sharma confirmed the shortage of remdesivir.

    According to official data, Agra reported 493 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the district’s infection count to 14,490, while three related deaths took place in the last 24 hours.

    The district has 2,994 active cases of the novel coronavirus.

    Junk the need of CMO’s letter for admission to Covid facility: Yogi

    With a man seen in a video lying before the Lucknow chief medical officer’s vehicle to get his Covid-positive mother admitted to a hospital, a former IAS officer on Tuesday urged the UP chief minister to junk the need of a CMO’s letter for the purpose.

    Retired IAS officer Surya Pratap Singh, known for being vocal on various social issues, made the plea to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a tweet, attaching the viral video to it.

    “Yogi Ji, you are a saint. I request you with folded hands to remove this mandatory requirement of a CMO’s letter for admission of a patient to a Covid-facility,” Singh said in his tweet.

    “Tears rolled down my eyes after seeing this scene,” said Singh alluding to the video.

    In the video tweeted by Singh, the distraught man was also heard crying that his mother’s condition was deteriorating but he was unable to get her admitted to any hospital.

    UP Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh, however, appeared to be favouring the system for having a CMO’s letter for admission to an anti-Coviod facility.

    “Whenever a Covid-19 patient is registered with a control command centre, a slip is made and the patient is either sent for home isolation or to a hospital for treatment,” UP Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh told PTI, explaining the system for admission of a patient in an anti-Covid facility in the state.

    “A patient goes to the hospital after the hospitals are consulted, and the bed is allotted to the patient.

    On the allotment letter, the centre’s official has to sign, otherwise which hospital will admit the patient? And the person who signs the slip is the CMO,” Singh elaborated.

    Apparently favouring the system, the minister added that an officer of the level of additional director has been put above the CMO to monitor the Covid-19 treatment.

    “If there is no signature of the official on the slip, then how will the payment be made (to the hospitals)?” he asked.

    Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had on Monday slammed the “red-tapism” in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that lives were lost because Covid patients needed permission from the district chief medical officers to get admission in hospitals.

    In a letter to the chief minister, the Congress general secretary had urged the creation of a database of available hospitals and beds so that people can seek admission directly.

    She had claimed that there are reports from many places in the state that CovidOVID-19 patients require the CMO’s permission for the hospital admission.

  • COVID-19: In relief to Yogi government, SC stays Allahabad HC order imposing lockdown in five UP cities

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday stayed the Allahabad High Court order directing the Uttar Pradesh Government to impose strict restrictions till April 26 in five cities amid the surge in COVID-19 cases.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde passed the order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, said the state has taken several steps to contain the spread of coronavirus but to “lockdown five cities by a judicial order may not be the right approach”.

    Mehta, while arguing that the high court order would create “immense administrative difficulties”, said the state government has issued several directions and taken adequate precaution on the issue.

    “In these circumstances, there shall be an interim stay on the order of the high court,” the top court said.

    The apex court appointed senior advocate P S Narasimha as amicus curiae to assist it in the matter and said the plea would come up for hearing after two weeks.

    The high court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to impose strict restrictions including closing of malls, shopping complexes and restaurants till April 26 in five cities — Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Nagar and Gorakhpur — but stopped short of calling it a “complete lockdown”.

    At the outset, the bench told Mehta that the high court cannot be arrayed as a respondent in the petition.

    Mehta said that it was a “serious mistake” as the petition was drafted overnight and requested the bench to allow him to delete the name of high court as a respondent in the matter.

    “Ok,” the bench said.

    During the arguments, Mehta said, “Several directions have been issued, some of which the state has already taken steps, but to lockdown five cities by a judicial order may not be the right approach”.

    The bench, while agreeing to hear the plea, noted the submissions of Mehta who said that the state has issued several directions to contain the spread of coronavirus.

    “He (Mehta) further submits that the blanket lockdown imposed by the high court in five cities in terms of the impugned order would create immense administrative difficulties,” the bench noted.

    It also noted Mehta’s argument that directions given by the high court is “as rigorous as a lockdown” though the high court has observed that these are “nowhere close to a complete lockdown.”

    The bench initially said that the state shall report to the high court within a week about the steps it has taken and steps which it proposes to take in view of the pandemic.

    However, Mehta said that the state can apprise the apex court about it.

    The bench observed then there would be a possibility where it would have to deal with pleas on such orders by the other high courts as well.

    Mehta said that the high court had passed order after taking suo motu cognisance.

    The bench later said the apex court would hear the matter after two weeks.

    In its petition filed in the apex court, the state government has said, “though the intention behind the impugned order passed by the division bench is both laudable and salutary, however, the high court has completely failed to appreciate that while passing the direction of the nature as quoted above the high court has effectively encroached upon the executive domain and has passed a mandamus which is incapable of being executed at the present stage, and if executed, is capable of creating panic, fear and law and order situation in the state”.

    It said the modalities which need to be worked upon before imposing a lockdown or curfew essentially fall within the domain of executive.

    The plea said there was no empirical data before the high court to compel it to arrive at a conclusion that lockdown/total curfew for a week was to the only way to break the chain of COVID-19 infection.

    “In absence therefore, it is axiomatic that the solemn consideration behind passing of the said order was an irresistible belief of the court that imposition of lockdown was the only way to break the chain of infection,” it said.

    Earlier in the day, the apex court agreed to hear the plea of the Uttar Pradesh government against the high court order after the state requested for urgent listing of the matter.

    The high court had slammed the state government for “not planning” for a second wave of the pandemic, and criticised the State Election Commission for holding the panchayat elections at this time and “exposing” poll officials to the threat of virus.

    It had also directed the government to “consider imposition of a complete lockdown in the entire state for at least two weeks”.

    Reacting to the order, the UP government had said there would be no “complete lockdown” in the cities for now.

    The high court had said if people are restrained from going out of their homes for a week in the first instance, the current chain of spread of the COVID-19 infection can be broken.

    “Accordingly, we are passing the directions in respect of cities of Prayagraj (Allahabad), Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar and Gorakhpur and we direct the government to strictly enforce them forthwith,” it had said.

    “All establishments be it government or private, except financial institutions and financial departments, medical and health services, industrial and scientific establishments, essential services including municipal functions, and public transport, shall remain closed till 26th April, 2021.

    The judiciary will, however, function on its own discretion,” the high court had said.