Uttar Pradesh: Govt orders aggressive COVID-19 testing in prisons amid surge in cases

In wake of the rise in COVID-19 cases in prisons, the Prisons Department of the Uttar Pradesh government has asked all District Magistrates (DMs), Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs), and Superintendents of Police (SPs) of the state to go in for aggressive COVID-19 testing and take necessary precautionary measures. 

This development comes a day after 1,200 inmates were infected with Coronavirus in 71 prisons across Uttar Pradesh. Anand Kumar, Indian Police Service (IPS) had earlier said that 1,40,000 tests have been conducted in the state's temporary and permanent prisons, and over 7,000 had tested positive so far. Two inmates have died of the virus.

Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, Anand Kumar cited government guidelines and said that testing is the bulwark to combat and prevent the spread of the pandemic.

"Government guidelines clearly enunciate and predicate aggressive testing, tracing, isolating and treating strategy. Despite this, there is very low testing of the inmates in few districts. You will agree that testing is the bulwark to combat and prevent the spread of the pandemic. Asymptomatic carriers are the main reason for this. Only an aggressive testing approach can offset the spread," he said.

Furthermore, he said health protocols were not followed in some districts which resulted in an increase in the number of cases in the main jails.

"In some districts inmates lodged in temporary jails have been sent to the main jails without following the prescribed testing protocols. They have tested positive in the main jails defeating the very purpose of the temporary jails acting as a buffer to prevent the infection in the main jails. The net result being an increase in the number of cases in the main jails," he added.

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Coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh

The COVID-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh rose to 5,652 on Monday with 58 more fatalities, while the infection tally reached 3,90,875 after 3,838 people tested positive for the disease, an official said. Briefing reporters here, Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said 5,382 patients have been discharged after recovering from the infection.

So far, 3,31,270 COVID-19 patients have been cured and the recovery rate stands at 84.75 percent, he said. The number of active cases in the state stands at 53,953, Prasad said, adding that over 1.51 lakh tests were conducted in the state.

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(With Inputs from ANI)