Lockdown in Uttar Pradesh? Law Minister Brijesh Pathak warns amid spike in COVID-19 cases

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New Delhi: After Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath clarified that a lockdown will not be imposed in the state, Law Minister Brijesh Pathak on Tuesday stated that a lockdown could be imposed in Lucknow if COVID-19 cases continued to rise.

In a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary Health and Principal Secretary Health, Pathak said that he is getting calls for help from hospitals due to lack of resources but he is "unable" to provide any aide.

The Minister stated in his letter, which has gone viral, he urged that strict measures be implemented to bring the situation under control and that a lockdown cannot be ruled out if the scenario does not improve.

"It is unfortunate that private hospitals have reduced testing. There is a need of 17,000 testing kits, whereas only 10,000 are available," Pathak said in the letter. He added that hospitals should ramp up testing as well.

Meanwhile, a slew of measures and restrictions and issued new guidelines to curb the spread of the deadly virus was announced on recently. Authorities also imposed night curfews in major cities of Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi, with effect from April 8. 

Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a fresh and a very severe wave of the pandemic with as many as 18,021 new cases in the past 24 hours. Lucknow alone reported 5,382 new COVID-19 cases.