Covid bomb explodes, 2,600 new cases in UP in one day

The Uttar Pradesh government asked people over 45 years of age to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as early as possible as the state witnessed a spike in COVID-19 cases with 2,600 more positive cases being reported during the last 24 hours.

Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said that 1,24,135 samples were tested in the state on a single day on Wednesday out of which 2,600 were found positive for novel coronavirus infection.
“At present there are 11,918 active coronavirus cases in the state out of which 6,722 are in home isolation and 287 are getting treatment in private hospitals. The rest are admitted in government hospitals,” he said.
Appealing to all people over 45 years of age to take the vaccine, Prasad said that they should register in the CoWIN portal for pre-online registration. He said those who were not able to register online should go to the vaccination centre and get themselves registered by showing their Aadhaar card.

He said if the vaccine shot was taken in a private hospital then a person would have to pay Rs 250 per dose.
Prasad said that more than 11 lakh people had been administered both doses of the vaccine.
“In some cases, people having taken both the shots have reported infection. But no complications have been found in those cases. People should not get swayed by rumours,” he said and added that those who had been administered one dose of the vaccine should take the second dose at the prescribed time.

Prasad said that two types of vaccines were being administered and both were effective and safe. The first is Covaxin and the second Covishield.

Those administered Covaxin will be given their second dose after four weeks while in case of Covishield, the second dose can be given between 4 and 8 weeks.

“If the second dose (of Covishield) is given between 6 and 8 weeks it is found to be more effective,” he said.
Prasad said there was a misconception that this disease (COVID-19) was found only in urban areas. “This infection spreads both in urban and rural areas. For that village monitoring committees and the mohalla monitoring committees need to be reactivated so that the spread of the infection can be prevented,” he said.

The additional chief secretary said that special precautions need to be taken at this time. “You should wash/sanitise your hands repeatedly and must use a mask. The infection is still there. Be sure to follow the Covid protocol even after vaccination.”