Giving the slogan of  ‘SMS’ (soap/sanitiser, mask and social distancing), Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that these steps were extremely helpful in preventing the spread of novel coronavirus.

Chairing an Unlock meeting at his official residence here on Friday, Yogi also said that it was very important to remain aware and cautious till an effective medicine or vaccine for COVID-19 was found.

Directing officials to expedite group testing, the  chief minister said that 1.50 lakh Covid tests should be conducted daily.

“In view of the coming festivals, group testing of vendors and trading class members, who are likely to come in contact with people and risk contract the infection, should be carried out,” he said.

Keeping the threat of dengue in mind, Yogi said that effective measures for controlling communicable diseases should be taken . “Fogging and sanitisation should be carried out and public address systems should be used to spread awareness about effective precautionary measures to save people from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases,” he said.

The chief minister also directed officials to improve the Covid recovery rate in Kanpur Nagar, Meerut, Basti and Varanasi and strengthen the health care facilities.

To ensure social and financial security and all-round development of workers and labourers, the state government has set up the UP Labour (Employment Exchange and Job) Commission

and district level committees led by district magistrates have been formed for effective execution and monitoring.

“The district magistrates should hold meetings of the committee at their respective districts and the reports of these committees are to be reviewed at the state level,” he said.

The chief minister said that various awareness programmes being held under Mission Shakti were yielding good results.

He directed the Revenue department to ensure procurement of blankets so that they could be distributed on time to the destitute and the needy people.

The meeting was attended by Medical Education Minister Suresh Khanna, Minister of State for Health Atul Garg, Chief Secretary RK Tiwari, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner Alok Tandon, Agricultural Production Commissioner Alok Sinha, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Director General of Police HC. Awasthi and other senior officials.