Second wave of COVID-19 worrying; people must take all precautions, says Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow: The current COVID-19 wave is worrying and people need to take all precautions and follow protocols, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday at an all-party meeting, which was not attended by Samajwadi Party, the main Opposition in the state. The meeting was held at the Raj Bhawan, and Governor Anandiben Patel said the situation was grim and vaccination against COVID-19 should be ramped up. An invitation was extended to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Leader of Opposition in UP Assembly Ram Govind Chaudhary for the all-party meeting, but they did not turn up, according to sources. “In the past one year, speedy action was taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in a planned manner. The fight was fought with joint efforts of everyone and in this, UP was fully successful. UP has done the best work in waging war against COVID-19. This had put an effective control over COVID, and the number of cases had become negligible,” Patel said at the meeting. “Now, the novel coronavirus has returned after changing its form, due to which the situation has become grim. Now, we have to take benefit of our past experience, and soon control the phase-2 of COVID-19, so that its spread can be curtailed. It is good that anti-COVID vaccine is available now, and the vaccination has to be effectively done,” the governor said. She also said that vaccination of students of the colleges and universities in the state should be considered. Chief Minister Adityanath said the current wave of COVID-19 is worrying and people need to exercise caution and follow all COVID protocols religiously. He appealed to people to adhere to COVID-appropriate behaviour during the panchayat polls. “The state government is committed to save lives and livelihood of people,” Adityanath said. Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, Congress leader Sohail Akhtar Ansari and BSP leader Lalji Verma also addressed the meeting.