UP CM stresses on increasing state's COVID-19 testing capacity to 15,000 daily

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has stressed on increasing the state's COVID-19 testing capacity to 15,000 daily and efforts were being made to achieve the target, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said on Wednesday. The state has already increased the bed capacity in COVID-19 hospitals to over one lakh. While 403 dedicated L1 hospitals have 72,934 beds, 75 L2 hospitals have 16,212 beds and 25 L3 high-end hospitals have 12,090 bed capacity and this was a record in the country he said.

"We have reached the capacity of 10,000 tests per day. The chief minister has directed to increase it to 15,000 by this week," Awasthi said. To achieve this target, trunet machines were being airlifted and provided to all the districts in the state, he said.

About details of the arrival of trains in the state, he said 1,612 trains have reached the state by Wednesday morning bringing back 22.80 lakh people, while four more trains from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala would arrive by the evening. On Tuesday, five trains from the state began their journey to Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Kerala, Bihar and West Bengal, the official said.

The chief minister has resolved to bring back everyone who wants to return to the state free of cost by trains and buses, he said. Awasthi said that data of over 30 lakh people who have returned to the state during the lockdown by different modes of transport were being collected, and appealed to those returning by foot or any other means to contact the revenue department for getting themselves enrolled and avail help under government schemes.

For increasing investments in the state, CM Adityanath has directed the Industrial Development Commissioner to hold dialogue with investors and industry representatives, he said..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)