While Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath maintains that there is no shortage of beds, oxygen and life saving drugs in the state, the ground reality is quite the opposite.
Despite hollow claims, the state government is no stranger to the grim reality.?
To prevent the COVID surge in hinterlands, CM Yogi has directed the launch of an exhaustive COVID testing campaign in all 97,000 villages of the state between May 4 and 8.
With a spurt in COVID cases, particularly in the rural areas, the state government has decided to stop the inter-state bus service with immediate effect.
"The buses of Uttar Pradesh Transport Corporation will no longer be sent to other states," said Additional Chief Secretary Information Navneet Sehgal.
There is a continuous inflow of migrant labourers from other states to Uttar Pradesh. The state roadways buses were being used to bring them to Uttar Pradesh and then were being sent to different villages. People are coming from trains from Mumbai and Gujarat.
"We have set up COVID help desks at every bus stand and railway stations to check the health of the people coming from other states. If found sick, they are being given medicines and are being quarantined," the official said.
A negative COVID-19 test report has been made mandatory for those travelling to UP by air.
Allegations run amok that the UP government has been underreporting the coronavirus situation in the state, considering a wide mismatch between official death figures and the death count at crematoriums.
The cumulative official COVID death count released by the government in the last seven days is 124
However, crematorium records mention that over 400 people who died because of the virus had been cremated during the same period.
Like other parts of the country, Uttar Pradesh has also been facing the rapid second wave of infections.
Many people have sounded an alarm on social media that cases in rural Uttar Pradesh are exploding, especially due Panchayat polls and Kumbh Mela returnees.?
At least 700 state government school employees on panchayat poll duty succumbed to COVID in April, the state teachers¡¯ union said on Friday, underlining the risk of flouting COVID norms during a devastating surge in infections
Uttar Pradesh reported 30,983 fresh COVID-19 cases and 290 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the State Health Department. The fresh cases have taken the tally of state's active cases to 2,95,752. The state saw 36,650 recoveries.