Time to gradually relax lockdown restrictions, says UP Health Minister

With Covid-19 cases dipping in Uttar Pradesh, the state health minster on Saturday hinted at a gradual relaxation of lockdown restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

The Corona-19 lockdown was earlier extended in the state to May 31.

"A careful review of the COVID situation in both rural and urban areas of the state in the meetings held by chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath, along with the efforts of Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) to be constantly in touch with the COVID patients, both in home isolation and those with minor symptoms, has made it possible to control the spread of coronavirus in the state," minister Jai Pratap Singh said.

Uttar Pradesh government had started Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16, with around 5000-6000 sessions.

Noting that that the response to the drive was better in urban areas compared to rural regions, the minister said that the government noticed the gap and made it a point to ensure that the rural population gets vaccinated.

Singh also dismissed allegations made by various politicians against his government's handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in the state.

"The unruly comments that the opposition leaders make is not good. This is a global pandemic and the only hope to save the nation is to vaccinate...it is important for every single person to be vaccinated. These kind of statements do not only create misunderstanding but also degrades the image of the nation because the media today is international".

He also told ANI that the state government is actively participating to educate and inform the people of the state, both urban and rural, of the benefits of the vaccine. "We go to rural areas to ensure everyone gets vaccinated", he added.

Meanwhile, talking about the cases of black fungus, the minister said that the state had enough stock of Amphotericin-B, the drug used to tackle the fungal infection which affects Covid-19 patients.

As per the official data, the Covid-19 active cases in the state has been recorded at 52244 and over 20,000 deaths.