The coronavirus tally Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur has surged to 11,219 on Tuesday. A large number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks were frequent visitors to roadside paan, chaat, tea stalls, and vegetable vendors.
These people assembled around the vendors violating the social distancing norms, and did not wear masks. Besides, spitting on the roads and vegetables kept in the open also aided the spread of Covid-19 infection, a report in Hindustan Times stated.
The contact tracing by the health department revealed these facts. Based on inputs given by people about their outings, authorities stationed teams to monitor vendors selling gol-gappas, pakoras, tea, and vegetables.
People gathering at such places neither wore masks nor maintained social distancing said a senior official of CMO’s core team.
Citing an example of a big paan shop in Swaroop Nagar, he said, “after random sampling, a vendor and two others tested positive.”
Chief medical officer (CMO) Dr AK Mishra said many such vendors tested positive in random sampling by the teams in Kanpur. He wrote to the Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC), Food Safety and Drug Authority (FSDA) and DIG/SSP to take effective measures to check the spread of infection.
In his letter, the CMO suggested strong monitoring of public places, street vendors, kirana stores, milk, ice cream shops, and vegetable markets.
“As part of a renewed strategy, we are ensuring that people don’t move around in public places without masks. Adhering to basic norms can help people in the current situation when Covid-19 cases are on the rise,” said Preetinder Singh, DIG/SSP (Kanpur).
“The police have been asked to monitor gatherings in markets, malls, shops, roads and impose penalties on people showing up without masks. At the same time, no crowding should be allowed at shops and eateries in particular,” he added.
Uttar Pradesh’s minister of state for health Atul Garg on Tuesday has tested positive for the coronavirus disease.
With 77 COVID-linked deaths in the past 24 hours, Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday recorded its highest single-day jump in death count that rose to 2,585. Kanpur Nagar and Lucknow reported most of the fresh deaths – 14 and 12, respectively, while Ballia reported six, Prayagraj five, and Varanasi three. Meanwhile, the total COVID cases in the state climbed to 162434 with the addition of 4,336 new cases.
