UP plans 100,000 Covid beds as 325,000 stranded labourers return in 2 weeks

State gears up to meet exigencies, with more than a million migrants expected to arrive in the near future

Amid the large-scale influx of migrant labourers due to the lockdown, the Uttar Pradesh government is planning to make arrangements for 100,000 covid-19 beds across the state.

As commercial and industrial activity in UP has started reviving under the controlled relaxations announced by the government, the state is gearing up to deal with exigencies, with more than a million migrants expected to arrive in the near future.

In fact, some 325,000 stranded workers have returned in the past two weeks by either train or bus.

So far, the state government has made arrangements for more than 52,000 covid-19 beds in the public and private sectors hospitals.

Chairing a review meeting here, chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to ramp up the number of covid beds to 75,000 by May 20 and eventually upgrade it to about 100,000 beds in the coming weeks.

“The higher number of covid-19 beds would ensure that the patients get best medical care in the state whenever required,” UP additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi said this evening.

The state has created an elaborate network of level 1, 2 and 3 covid-19 hospitals across the state, of which the L1 pertain to the primary care at the district level, followed by L2 and L3 at the state level having superior medical facilities and equipped with oxygen and ventilator support respectively.

Besides, the state has planned to increase the daily testing capacity to 10,000 per day from less than 5,000 at present. The government is promoting pool testing too so that a larger number of people could be tested in a given period of time.

At present, the instance of covid-19 in UP has been the highest in the 21-40 year age category with more than 48 per cent of the total cases in UP, followed by 41-60 year, 0-20 year and 61+ year categories reporting about 26 per cent, 18 per cent and 8 per cent cases respectively.

“The percentage of men patients in UP is 78.5 per cent compared to women at 21.5 per cent,” UP principal secretary, medical and health Amit Mohan Prasad said.

A majority of the coronavirus patients in UP have been asymptomatic that is the patients do not experience any known symptoms of disease, but are found to be active in sample testing.

Meanwhile, the state has set the target of arranging for 50-55 trains on a daily basis to speedily evacuate its workers stranded in other states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka etc.

“We are creating a database of migrant workers, who are coming back, so that we could identify their unique skill sets for providing them with suitable employment opportunities in UP itself,” Awasthi informed. The state is looking to provide jobs to more than two million migrant workers.