Lucknow, Apr 12 (IANS): UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has issued strict guidelines to control Covid spread in the state.

The chief minister, while addressing the meeting of Team 11 on Monday, said that he will neither impose lockdown nor let people die in misery.

"It is the officials' responsibility to ensure that there is no shortage of hospital beds for the patients in the state," he said.

The chief minister suggested taking over of private hospitals and labs to manage the Covid situation in UP.

Emphasizing on testing, tracing and treatment, he said, "If needed, take over the private hospitals and medical colleges to overcome the shortcomings."

He further said, "Our priority has to be the implementation of an effective strategy to stop the spread of Covid. We will have to fight the pandemic vigorously with full preparation, as there is no scope for any sort of negligence in this fight."

Praising his own government's Covid management last year, Yogi Adityanath said, "Similar to last year, we will have to fight this war with great strength. For the same, we will have to increase the beds in L2 (with oxygen facility) and L3 (with ventilators) hospitals in sufficient quantity."

Expressing displeasure over the low recovery rate in the private hospitals and labs charging more than the prescribed rates, he said, "Nobody will be allowed to take advantage of the helplessness of the victims. It has to stop immediately. In case of providing incorrect or misleading information, harsh action will be taken."

Yogi Adityanath has also instructed the officials to dedicate half of the 108-ambulance service for Covid patients and the remaining half for non-Covid cases.

He has set the response time for these ambulances at 15 minutes. He has laid emphasis on making the Integrated Command and Control Centre the focal point of the battle against the pandemic and monitoring its activity one by one.

The chief minister further directed the officials to ensure that there is no delay in the test report of the Covid patients. He suggested to take help from private labs if needed, or completely take them over and pay them the required amount, but in no circumstances, the test report should be delayed.

He also pitched for the expansion of lab and testing capabilities and directed officials to increase the RT-PCR test capacity by 70 per cent.