UP govt intensifies its efforts to deal with coronavirus outbreak

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to ensure proper treatment of COVID-19 positive patients, and check availability of goods to meet daily requirements of the people amid nationwide lockdown.

According to a senior government official, the state government has arranged for 11,000 additional isolation beds and at present, eight testing labs are functional.

Besides, units manufacturing masks and sanitisers in Noida and Ghaziabad, which had been closed due to the lockdown, have been reopened, he said

The distilleries in the state have also been asked to make alcohol-based hand sanitisers and it is expected that at least five to six distilleries will start this at the earliest, he said.

The official said the chief minister has been holding a series of meetings with officials in the state capital as well as those in the districts to keep an eye on the situation in the remotest of places.

Adityanath has instructed the officials concerned to make arrangements for food and portable water for the stranded people.

Community kitchens have also been started and the chief minister is himself visiting them to check the quality, besides he is also visiting hospitals to review the preparedness, the official said.

Adityanath had instructed the departments concerned to make arrangements for extending the facilities under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, he added.