Massive coronavirus vaccination drive in UP from May 10 for 18-plus

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said a massive coronavirus vaccination drive will be initiated for 18-44 years age group in the state from May 10.

He said the drive will be conducted in 17 municipal corporations and Gautam Buddh Nagar area.

The vaccination drive will be held in Aligarh, Agra, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Bareilly, Meerut, Moradabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Saharanpur, Firozabad, Mathura-Vrindavan, Ayodhya and Shahjahanpur municipal corporations and Gautam Buddh Nagar, the CM said.

Speaking to reporters in Bareilly, Adityanath said despite being the most populous state in the country, Uttar Pradesh is fighting the disease effectively.

He underlined that vaccination is the best way to defeat the infection, adding that 45 lakh vaccines have been administered to people above the age of 45 years.

In the age group of 18-44 years, more than one lakh vaccines have been administered. The vaccination for people in this age group started on May 1 for seven districts in the state, namely Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Bareilly, he said.

Talking about the achievements of his government in fighting the pandemic, the chief minister said, "There were doubts that COVID-19 positive cases will touch the one lakh-mark by May 5, and today is May 8. The count of fresh cases on Saturday stands at 26,847. We have proved to be successful in COVID management.

The second doubt was that cases will increase during the panchayat polls. The panchayat elections ended on April 19, and there has been a continuous drop in the number of cases, he underlined.

The BJP leader said UP recorded the highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases at 38,055 on April 24, and the highest count of active cases of 3.10 lakh was recorded on April 30.

In the past eight days (from May 1 to May 8), the COVID-19 cases have registered a drop at 65,000; and the number is continuously decreasing. In the past one week, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Bareilly has dropped by 2,800, he noted.

Adityanath said there were 20-30 oxygen beds in a 500-bed hospital, but today in a 500-bed hospital, every person is feeling the need for oxygen.

"Special plans have been made as the demand for oxygen has grown many times, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved 61 new oxygen plants for UP. The process is on to set up one oxygen plant in every district by the sugarcane department," he said.