Uttar Pradesh government issues guidelines to check COVID-19 spread during Holi - Check details

In view of the rising coronavirus infections in Uttar Pradesh, focus testing will be done across the state till March 27. To check the spread of the infection, samples of people working in shops, people living in slums, jails and old-age homes will be taken.

The state health department has completed the preparations for the 15-day 'focus testing' campaign. A 'focus testing' campaign was also launched in February this year.

For the last 10 days, the number of Covid-19 infected patients in the state has been increasing gradually.

Holi COVID-19 guidelines

The markets usually draw massive crowds during festivals, so just like on Diwali, focus testing will be done to detect the spread of infection on Holi this year. During this time, samples of colours, water spray guns, snacks, people who work in sweet shops and shopping malls, people shopping, roadside shopkeepers would be taken.

The testing of samples would be done on a daily basis so that the infected persons can be detected and quarantined in time. People coming in contact with infected persons will also be checked.

In Uttar Pradesh, the emphasis will be on checking of coronavirus infections as well as contact tracing. Health workers will campaign door-to-door to caution the people about Covid-19 and urge persons showing symptoms of the infection to get themselves checked.

Focus testing - Datewise

On Saturday, samples of laborers engaged in construction work were taken, while on Sunday, samples of street vendors and fruit and vegetable vendors will be taken.

Similarly, on March 15 and 16, samples of teachers of schools and colleges will be taken along with the staff and with the permission of parents, samples of students will also be taken.

On March 17, the samples of the travellers of the state will be taken, while on March 18, there will be sampling of street shop owners. On March 19, there will be a sampling of vendors working at sweets and snacks shops. On March 20, apart from rickshaws and e-rickshaws, samples of auto-tempo drivers will be taken.

In February, not less than one lakh tests were conducted each day. A maximum of 1.18 lakh people got corona tests done in a single day in March. As many as 90,000 samples were taken for testing on Friday while 83,000 samples were taken on March 8. Now, along with focus testing, daily testing will also be extended.

Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Health), Amit Mohan Prasad said, "The most number of Covid-19 patients in the state are 25 in Lucknow, 15 in Ghaziabad, 13 in Prayagraj, 10 in Bareilly, 9 in Kanpur Nagar, 9 in Varanasi, 7 in Gorakhpur, 6 in Meerut, 6 in Moradabad, 5 patients each in Jhansi, Barabanki and Banda, four patients each have been found in Noida, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Etah districts."

Till now there had not been a single active patient in Mahoba and Sambhal districts but on Friday one patient each was reported from there.

At present, Siddharth Nagar is the only district in the state where there is no Covid-19 active patient. There are 16 districts where one coronavirus patient each has been found.

(With agency inputs)