We faced challenges in containing Covid-19: Yogi (IANS Interview, Part 1)

Lucknow, June 3 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday that he faced a series of challenges in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, but has managed to successfully contain its spread.

He said that among the challenges he faced was to strengthen the medical infrastructure, the influx of Tablighi Jamaat members which led to a surge in Covid-19 cases, reopening of the economy and then the return of migrants.

Speaking exclusively to a select group of journalists, the Chief Minister said that when the first alert was announced for Covid-19 on March 3, Uttar Pradesh did not have a testing lab or a Covid-19 hospital and this was a major challenge.

“We began strengthening our medical infrastructure and today we have 30 testing laboratories. We have 403 level one hospitals with beds and doctors, 75 level two hospitals that are equipped with oxygen cylinders and 25 level three hospitals with ventilators and equipment for dialysis etc. Each of the 75 districts in the state are now equipped to treat Corona patients,” he said.

Adityanath said that till now, the RTPCR system of Corona testing was being used which took about 12 to 14 hours for the results to be known. “We will now be using the TriNnet machines which will give results in one hour,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the second challenge that his government faced was the influx of Tablighi Jamaat members. “We dealt with the situation tactfully and managed to track them and treat them,” he said.

Adityanath said that after the first phase of lockdown, the challenge was also to gradually reopen the economy and deal with the arrival of migrants.

“We reopened 119 sugar mills and 2,500 cold storages. Construction projects were restarted with 65,000 workers. In the small and medium sector, work began with 25.5 lakh workers while 80,000 micro units restarted with 2.5 lakh workers. Under MGNREGA, we had 40 lakh workers in different projects,” he stated.

The Chief Minister said that in the third phase of lockdown, the government faced the challenge of migrants who started returning to their homes in large numbers.

“We had to ensure their safe return. We brought back nearly 32 lakh workers while about 4 lakh people came on their own. We had to undertake their medical screening, quarantine them, provide food and ensure their skill mapping. We also gave them Rs 1,000 each and ration kits. We did pool testing of those who were suspected Corona patients. The medical screening was done by one lakh teams and 4.85 crore people were screened,” he said.

Replying to a question, Adityanath said that his government has managed to contain the pandemic and the state only has about 3,200 active cases at the moment while 5,000 patients have been treated successfully and discharged from the hospitals.

“Some experts had predicted that UP would have 65,000 to 70,000 cases in May but we brought them down to 8,000 of which 5,000 have been treated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a very timely decision of lockdown and we managed to check the Corona spread. It is the people’s faith in Modi that has helped us contain the pandemic,” he said.

To another question about ‘Unlock 1.0’, the Chief Minister said that public awareness was needed now more than ever.

“Freedom of movement has been allowed to a great extent, but people will have to follow guidelines and ensure safety protocols. As we proceed further with unlocking, we will follow the guidelines issued from time to time by the Centre,” he said.

–IANS

amita/arm