UP CM asks officials to boost number of Covid-19 monitoring panels in state

To strengthen the Covid-19 surveillance mechanism, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath on Saturday directed officials to increase the number of monitoring committees in the state.

Chairing a meeting with senior officials over the Covid-19 situation in the state, he said random sampling should be increased and a coronavirus helpdesk should be established in every hospital.

"In order to make the surveillance system more effective, the monitoring committees should be increased. The number of monitoring committees should be increased to one lakh. This will help in strengthening the surveillance mechanism, and will be an important effort in breaking the chain of Covid-19 infection," Adityanath said.

According to a statement, the chief minister directed that Covid-19 tests of inmates of old age homes, juvenile homes and women protection homes should be carried out.

On Friday, Uttar Pradesh reported its highest single-day spike of 809 coronavirus cases, taking the state's tally to 16,594, officials said.

The death toll due to Covid-19 mounted to 507 after 19 new fatalities were reported from different districts of the state, they said.