The Uttar Pradesh government Wednesday directed officials to ensure Covid protocols are followed at night shelters for the homeless, a day after the Centre asked states to ramp up genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of newer variants.
The Centre's directive came in view of a fresh spurt in cases in some countries such as Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the US. According to a statement, the state government's guidelines stated that Covid protocol, such as maintaining social distancing, must be adhered to at the night shelters.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had recently instructed officials to make proper arrangements at night shelters in view of the biting cold in the state. Director of Uttar Pradesh Local Bodies Directorate Neha Sharma said directives have been issued to municipal commissioners and executive officers on a priority basis.
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They have been directed to regularly update details of night shelters on the Google link of the directorate so that monitoring of arrangements at all the night shelters can be done, she said. The facilities at the night shelters should be of good quality and arrangements for cleanliness, pure drinking water and lighting should be made. Directives have also been issued for the distribution of blankets among the poor, Sharma said.
