UP extends Epidemic Act till June '21

Following the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state, Yogi Adityanath led UP government has extended the provisions of the Epidemic Act across the state till June 30th. Additional Chief Secretary of health Amit Mohan Prasad admitted that cases are rising in the state daily, and the decision was made after reviewing the alarming situation. The Epidemic Act, earlier imposed till March 31st, has been extended to June or until the second wave Is under control.

"In the public interest, the state government may cancel holidays of doctors, health workers and other government and private employees engaged in the duties to deal with the situation," said Prasad. He also directed all health and frontline workers to take the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for carrying out their duties. In the last 24 hours, UP has reported 1230 new positive cases and 11 deaths. Additionally, the recovery rate has fallen 98.25 per cent to 96 per cent. From March 1st to now, the number of active cases has increased 12 times.

The state has ordered all Covid management hospitals across the state to open to full capacity. With Lucknow reporting 361 cases in the last 24 hours, micro containment zones have been created in the city's seven major localities to check the surge. Though the government had earlier denotified about 240 hospitals following a drop in the number of cases, it has now notified 45 hospitals in 30 districts as covid facilities.

"We have added 45 hospitals across the state in the list of dedicated Covid facilities. These are among the hospitals that were earlier denotified. All these hospitals are of L2 and L3 category, as we now have 128 Covid facilities and close to 25,000 reserved beds. If we have even 25 per cent hospitalisation, we are prepared for around 1 lakh active cases. If needed, the number of dedicated facilities will be further increased like last year. The hospitals will be ready to admit Covid patients even on a very short notice," Prasad added.