Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday informed of the plan to protect children by getting their parents and family members vaccinated on priority.

“Before the third wave of Coronavirus pandemic arrives, we will make arrangements to provide protection to parents or kins of those children aged under 10 years by getting them vaccinated on priority,” Adityanath said while addressing a press conference.

Elaborating on the latest Covid-19 figures of UP, the CM said: “It was predicted that, during the second wave of this pandemic, Uttar Pradesh was likely to witness more than one lakh active cases. However, I’m glad to inform you that the highest number of active cases reported in the state stands at 25,000 as of 24 April this year.”

Adityanath also took cognizance of the rising demand of medical oxygen in the state. He said: “I thank PM Modi, Indian Army for their continuous efforts for providing medical oxygen via Oxygen expresses and other modes in the state. Our state strictly followed tracing, testing and treating campaign that was initiated by the Central government.”

Further, the state CM warned that the administration will take strict actions against those who black-market Covid-19 related medicines, equipment etc. “We will take steps to spread public awareness for the same.”

The Centre began its countrywide Covid-19 inoculation drive for people aged between 18-44 years on 1 May.

However, since then, several states have reported a shortage of doses, including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra.