What has come as a big relief for the people of Uttar Pradesh is the fact that no Delta+ variant of the novel coronavirus has been found in samples across the state despite the variant having played havoc during the second wave of COVID-19 outbreak across the country.
“In the 550 samples of genome sequencing conducted at IGIB, New Delhi, the presence of the Delta Plus variant was not confirmed in any of the samples. But, study shows that the Delta variant was behind COVID-19 fatality as around 80 per cent of the samples were found to be of the Delta variant of the second wave. Patients infected with the new Delta Plus variant are being found in many states but luckily UP is safe and we have increased the monitoring," said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his meeting with Team 9 officials in Lucknow on Tuesday.
"According to experts, this time the Delta Plus variant is more dangerous than before. We have to be very careful. All necessary steps should be taken as per the advice of experts without delay. The condition of the state is getting better with every passing day. But this is the time to exercise extra vigilance and caution. A little carelessness can lead to a spurt in cases once again,” the chief minister said.
Virus genome sequencing process is being further accelerated in collaboration with Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, King George’s Medical University and Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) in Lucknow, and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and its study report would be helpful in management to avoid infections caused by the coronavirus Delta+ variant.
During the meeting, the chief minister was informed that the preliminary results of the sero survey were giving out good signs. High level antibodies are confirmed in 60- 70 per cent of the people surveyed.
Yogi also asked officials to speed up the work for self-reliance in oxygen generation. He said that oxygen plants at Hapur, Siddharth Nagar and Kushinagar became functional on Monday and now 121 plants were functional in the state so far. “The process of establishing the remaining under-construction plants should be completed expeditiously,” he said.
Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary (Information) Navneet Sehgal said, “Uttar Pradesh reported 174 new COVID-19 cases during the past 24 hours while 254 infected people recovered. The daily positivity rate has come down to less than 0.1 per cent while recovery rate is improving from 98.5 per cent. At present, the total active cases have come down to 2,946 out of which 1,810 patients are being treated in home isolation.”
“While more than 5.75 crore Covid tests have been done across the state, a total of 2.37 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. Besides, over 3.10 lakh vaccine doses have been administered in the state while more than 44 lakh people have received both the doses of the vaccine,” Sehgal said .
