UP: Only 5 persons at a time in religious places amid covid surge

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to restrict the entry of more than five persons at a time in all religious places.

This comes as Lucknow reported a steep rise of 4,059 fresh Covid-19 cases on Saturday, taking its tally of active cases to 16,690.

The Chief Minister imposed fresh restrictions following a late-night review meeting on Saturday, by capping the number of devotees entering a religious place at a time.

The move is expected to bring about relief on the covid front as the festival of Navratri is all set to begin from Tuesday, attracting a large number of devotees in the Temples. Moreover, the month of Ramzan will also commence from Wednesday.

Meanwhile, even as the state capital faces a massive crunch of hospital beds, the state government has decided to convert three hospitals, Era Medical College, TS Mishra Medical College and Integral medical College, into dedicated Covid facilities.

The Chief Minister has also asked officials to arrange for at least 2,000 ICU beds immediately and another 2,000 Covid beds must be arranged for within a week in order to handle the situation.

The Chief Minister further said that comprehensive contact tracing was needed. "At least 30-35 people who could have come in contact with a positive person have to be identified and tested. Ambulances should be linked with the integrated command and control centre so that patients can get ambulance services on time. There should be 'nigrani committees' in every village and in every block of the urban local body," he said.

He also stressedd on the need for carrying out a cleanliness, sanitization and fogging drive across the district. This, he said, should especially be done at bus stations, railway stations, airports, crossings and all crowded places.

The state government has already imposed a night curfew in many