Uttar Pradesh’s remarkable recovery amidst the second wave of the pandemic has grabbed global headlines with even the World Health Organisation praising the efforts of the state administration. As Uttar Pradesh conducts close to a whopping 3 lakh tests per day, the holy city of Varanasi has emerged as a model on how to effectively prepare and contain the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
Lauding the measures taken by the Yogi Adityanath led Uttar Pradesh government in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi, PM Modi said that the holy city managed to stave off the virus without going into an extreme lockdown and instead focused on micro-containment zones which helped contain positivity.
The Prime Minister’s Office has been keeping a tab on the Covid management in Varanasi with former bureaucrat and Modi aide, Kaushal Raj Sharma camping in the city since mid-April. While the DRDO set up a Covid hospital, the administrative machinery worked overtime in procuring oxygen cylinders. Varanasi’s four oxygen plants supplying 12000 LPM oxygen were procured from the USA, Israel, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
It is pertinent to note that Sharma is widely perceived to be PM Modi’s Man Friday, working with the Prime Minister since his days as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Upon his arrival, Sharma set up a 24/7 command and control room which had 20 dedicated phone lines and round-the-clock manpower.
Sharma played a key role in ordering two oxygen plants, hundreds of oxygen cylinders and concentrators with the former bureaucrat in a press briefing stating that such measures have helped bring down the positivity rate from 40% to 13%.
The testing capacity was ramped up in the city from 5000 to 12000 per day with measures taken to ensure that the reports arrived within 24 hours.
Varanasi Municipal Commissioner Deepak Agrawal said, “Apart from this we have vaccinated over 3 lakhs in the district, and at 9,000 per day vaccination rate is one of the highest for any city.”
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Varanasi DM Kaushal Raj Sharma showed proactiveness as he started taking measures before the second wave of the Chinese virus crippled the country. As the cases of the virus spiked in the city, Sharma organised a meeting with the local businessmen and convinced them for a corona curfew. The district administration in cahoots with the businessmen undertook phased closing down much before the Yogi Adityanath government ordered a statewide lockdown.
Varanasi stands as proof of how no matter how contagious is the current strain of the Chinese virus, effective and efficient administration is the only way forward of defeating the China-made pandemic.