Lucknow, Apri28 (IANS): The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has now become the first state in the country to conduct more than 4 crore Covid tests.

In the past 24 hours, around 1,84,000 tests have been done in the state, out of which more than 94,000 were through the RT-PCR mode, a government spokesperson said.

The state government has placed an order for 40 new RT-PCR machines to intensify testing.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath intends that maximum testing should be done through RT-PCR in the state.

According to the spokesman, "The Chief Minister has always emphasised on the mantra of 'Test, Trace and Treat'. The strategy of conducting door-to-door survey by surveillance teams, intensifying vaccination and doubling the testing capacity in the state, is yielding good results. The government has reached out to around 21 crore people out of the total population of 24 crore in the state."

To reduce the effects of Covid virus, the UP government has also intensified the vaccination drive in the state. So far, a total of 1,19,47,728 vaccine doses have been administered in the state. This includes the first dose of 98,83,945 vaccines and 20,63,783 second doses.

The vaccine will be now administered to those above 18 years of age in the state from May 1.

To ensure availability of adequate doses in the state, the state government has ordered to procure one crore doses of Covishield and Covaxine from the manufacturing companies.