UP govt launches ‘Mera Gaon, Corona Mukt Gaon’ campaign

In order to contain the spread of the virus in villages, the Uttar Pradesh government has launched a new campaign. Villages that declare themselves COVID-free will be rewarded. The state is also likely to declare ‘black fungus’ a notified disease today.

Gaon Connection
| Updated: May 21st, 2021

The state government claimed that since March 31 till today May 21, 65 per cent of tests have happened in villages. All photos: By arrangement

The Uttar Pradesh government has launched ‘mera gaon, corona mukt gaon’ campaign to declare villages free from coronavirus infection.

“To spread awareness in villages, today the honourable chief minister has launched the mera gaon corona mukt gaon campaign,” Navneet Sehgal, additional chief secretary, information department, Uttar Pradesh, said in the press conference today (May 21).

“The villages that declare themselves as COVID free will also be given benefits of special schemes. This has been launched so that villages and government can work together to make villages covid free,” he continued to inform.

Earlier in the month, the state govt launched a five-day campaign to screen its rural population for COVID19 symptoms. As part of this campaign, covering all the 97,409 revenue villages in the state, frontline workers, such as ASHAs [Accredited Social Health Activists] and ANMs [Auxiliary Nurse Midwife], conducted house to house survey in villages to screen villagers and distribute medical kits.

As part of the ‘COVID Samvedikaran Abhiyan’, a team of two — two ASHA workers, or an ASHA worker and an ANM — has been assigned an average 40-50 rural households a day.

Also Read: UP govt launches a special screening drive across 97,409 villages to check COVID spread

Sehgal informed that aggressive testing keeping villages in focus is being carried out across the state. “In villages, antigen testing is being conducted through RRTs [Rapid Response Teams] . Of 98,386 villages, testing in 89,512 villages has been completed so far. Nearly 8,000 villages are left. Of those villages, symptoms have been found only in 28,742 villages. Testing in these villages is being accelerated. Since May 5, 1,218,733 tests have been conducted,” he said.

The state government claimed that since March 31 till today May 21, 65 per cent of tests have happened in villages. “After May 5, aggressive testing is happening in villages, from 80,000 to nearly two lakhs, testing has been increased in villages,” Sehgal informed.

The focus is also on RT PCR tests if people continue to show symptoms even if they test negative in antigen tests. “This will ensure infections will be removed from a particular village,” said Sehgal.

Also Read: On two legs and a prayer, without proper safety gear, ASHAs conduct door-to-door COVID screening in rural UP

Uttar Pradesh has reported 7,735 new COVID19 cases, 17,668 recoveries and 172 deaths in the last 24 hours. Of the total population of 240 million, surveillance of 170 million people in the state has already been done, informed Sehgal.

UP to declare black fungus as epidemic

The additional secretary also informed that the state government will declare black fungus as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act today. In other words, it will be mandatory for the health facilities to report all confirmed or suspected cases of the disease to the state.

Also Read: Rural Uttar Pradesh in a fever of trouble

CM Yogi Adityanath and Additional Secretary Information Navneet Sehgal during a visit to a vaccination centre in Lucknow.

“In compliance with the order of the central government, black fungus should also be declared a notified disease on the lines of COVID. Order in this regard should be issued today and be made effective,” said the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a meeting with officials today. 

Yesterday, the central government had asked states to declare mucormycosis, or commonly known as ‘black fungus’, an epidemic.

Also Read: Epidemic in a pandemic: Centre asks states to declare ‘black fungus’ a notifiable disease

In consultation with health experts, the state government is making arrangements for proper medical treatment of all patients.

The Chief Minister has asked officials to ensure adequate availability of all essential medicines by communicating with health experts regarding the cause and treatment method of black fungus. A letter will be sent to the central government requesting to increase the allocation, the chief minister said.

To respond to the possible third wave of COVID-19 and rising mucormycosis, commonly known as ‘black fungus’ cases, the Uttar Pradesh government yesterday May 20 announced setting up 50-100 pediatric beds in every district of the state. These pediatric ICU beds with all the resources will work as ‘Raksha Kavach’ in hospitals in every district, reads the official press statement.

Also Read: Every district in UP to have 50-100 pediatric beds