Uttar Pradesh students stuck in Allahabad due to the coronavirus lockdown have started leaving for their native places, an official said Tuesday.
"Around 50 buses have departed from Allahabad. It will continue on Wednesday. The health check-up of students will be done. Only after the health check-up, they will be allowed to board a bus. After they reach their destination, another health check-up should be done," Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Information) Awanish Awasthi told reporters.
People coming from other states will be quarantined for 14 days at shelter homes in the state, Awasthi said.
"The labourers who arrived from Haryana on Monday night have been kept in quarantine. A discussion for bringing back workers from other states has started, said Awasthi
He said, The chief minister has directed that it should be publicised that people who are interested in coming back to UP should contact their respective district administrations in other states and report at quarantine centres, so that their medical examination is done.
"And then, arrangements can be made to bring them back from the quarantine centres," Awasthi said.
He added that people coming to UP from other states will have to undergo pool testing for the infection.
The UP chief minister has also asked officials to take a pledge to break the coronavirus transmission chain, said Awasthi.
Referring to reports about the use of improper PPE kits in the state, Awasthi said, "Before COVID-19 cases were reported in the state, PPE kits meant for SARS (a respiratory illness caused by coronavirus) were used. The kits were bought in October 2019 at Rs 115 each. At the time of the COVID-19 crisis, these PPE kits were made available to the health workers for their immediate protection.
However, as soon as PPE kits became available as per standards prescribed for COVID-19, the PPE kits for SARS were recalled.
The new kits cost over Rs 1,100.
He said the matter is being investigating as to who is responsible for spreading this misleading and baseless information about the PPE kits.
Adityanath also gave orders to officials to start activities in green and orange zones by making an action plan, Awasthi said.
A COVID-19 hotspot is classified as a red zone, while a green zone is a place from where no fresh COVID-19 case has been reported for the past 28 days. An orange zone is a place from where no fresh case has been reported for the past 14 days, he said.
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