Panic in Uttar Pradesh due to massive surge in Covid-19 cases, shortage of life-saving medicines

An emotional letter written by a retired district judge, Ramesh Chandra (67), which surfaced on social media, has exposed CM Yogi Adityanath led UP government’s failure to help those hit by the Covid-19 surge in the state.

He tested positive for Covid-19 along with his wife Madhu Chandra (64). They were home quarantined as they did not get admission in any hospital. Yesterday, his wife passed away, after which Ramesh Chandra wrote the letter seeking help, saying: “I have called the helpline numbers given by the government over 50 times since yesterday but there was no response. There was no one to deliver medicines at home or facilitate admission in any hospital. My wife died and now there is no one to help me even in cremating her.”

If a retired judge is facing such apathy on part of the administration, one can well imagine the state of the common man.

Indeed, panic has set in among people due to the massive surge in coronavirus cases across Uttar Pradesh, which recorded 22,439 fresh cases in the last 24 hours. The number of cases on Wednesday was 20,510.

State capital Lucknow witnessed the biggest spike with 5,183 cases, followed by 1888 in Prayagraj, 1859 in Varanasi, 1263 in Kanpur and 750 in Gorakhpur.

The pace of infection in the state is increasing at an exponential rate. There were only 1,700 active cases in the first week of March. From the second week of March, in just one month, the number of active cases has reached 95,980 on April 14.

About 68,000 new cases were seen in just one week.

The spike in cases has made people jittery, and the paucity of life-saving medicines is not helping. The Yogi government has tried to bring the situation under control by lifting a consignment of 25,000 doses of Remdesivir from Ahmedabad, but this number seems insufficient.

“Just look at the rate of infection and medicines made available to us. It is just peanuts,” a doctor at RML Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow said.

To try and battle the virus spreading rapidly all over, Uttar Pradesh government has increased the duration of night curfew in 10 most affected cities in the state by 2 hours. It has also closed all educational institutions till May 15 and has postponed all exams including the examination for Class X and XII held by the state education board.

“The UP Board examination for Class X and XII will now be held after May 20,” CM Yogi Adityanath said during a virtual meeting with ‘Team 11’ officials.

Meanwhile, to break the chain of the infection, various traders’ associations decided to voluntarily close the markets. In a press release issued on Thursday the traders said that despite it being marriage and festival season with the ongoing Ramadan and Navratri, they have decided to close market complexes to save lives and prevent spread of the Coronavirus infection. Prominent Lucknow markets including Hazratganj and Aminabad will remain closed to stop the spread of the disease.

Amid the surge, migrant labourers have started coming back to their native places in Uttar Pradesh from different states, including Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. UP Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said on Thursday that people who are not found to be infected will be sent to home quarantine for 14 days, whereas those without symptoms will be sent to home quarantine for seven days.

Not only this, it has been clearly stated in the guidelines that upon arrival of migrant labourers in their district, the district administration should not only screen them but also prepare a list of important information, including their names, addresses and mobile numbers.

In view of the increasing Covid-19 cases, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday had directed the state government to consider imposing a full lockdown for two or three weeks in the cities most affected by the Covid-19 infection. The court said that no person should be seen without a mask outdoors, or else it will take contempt proceedings against the police. The court has said that no more than 50 people should gather in a social or religious event. The next hearing in the matter will be held on April 19.