UP is working on war-footing to build robust cold chain infrastructure for COVID vaccines

As the world continues to battle against the Coronavirus pandemic, Uttar Pradesh government is regularly monitoring the preparation of a robust cold chain infrastructure for storing COVID-19 vaccines in 75 districts of the state. Along with this, Yogi Adityanath-led state government is also reviewing the allocation of human resource and other logistical support that will be required for vaccinating Uttar Pradesh's 23 crore population. Earlier on November 23, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the state officials to ensure that the state is ready with the cold storage infrastructure. 

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COVID-19 vaccine: Uttar Pradesh to build cold chain storage

Apart from installing a proper cold chain infrastructure, CM Adityanath had also instructed officials to ensure that the state is ready with vaccinations in all districts by December 15. State's Health and Family Welfare Minister Jai Pratak Singh said that Uttar Pradesh has the advantage of existing cold chain network in the majority of districts. Highlighting that UP's Health and Family Department has been continuously organising vaccination programs like polio, Japanese encephalitis (JE), Singh said that the state had the advantage of good existing cold chain storage network in majority of districts.  

Detailing the state's preparations for cold chain storage network, Singh said that the officials are racing against time to meet the deadline. He also informed that feedback on cold chain network, warehouses and transportation facilities has been collected from district health departments. The Minister added that funds have been allocated to all the districts to upgrade the existing system and ensure procurement of equipments and machines. 

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Speaking further Singh said that currently, the cold chain stores for the COVID-19 vaccine are fully functional in 53 districts of Uttar Pradesh. He added that construction or expansion work has been ordered in the remaining 22 districts including Bareilly, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Sant Kabir Nagar, Saharanpur, Rae Bareli, Prayagraj, Muzzaffarnagar, Mathura, Mainpuri, Lalitpur, Kanpur, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Gonda, Firozabad, Banda Etah, Balrampur, Azamgarh, Ambedkar Nagar and Agra. 

In order to strengthen the cold chain storage system, the UP government has demanded 1,244 deep freezers and 115, 635 vaccine carriers from the Central government. Singh said that training of 70,631 vaccinators is underway and if more vaccinators will be required the state health department would hire vaccinators on contract as well. 

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COVID-19 outbreak in Uttar Pradesh

As most parts of the country witness a sudden surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, Uttar Pradesh so far has recorded over 5,39,899 positive Coronavirus cases, out of which 5,06,938 have recovered while 7,718 have succumbed to the infection. As per the latest updates received from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, Uttar Pradesh had reported 2,152 new cases, 2,527 fresh recoveries and 21 deaths. Currently, the total number of active cases in the state is 25,243. 

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