He also said the coronavirus vaccination drive was better in UP’s urban areas compared to the rural region. Noting the gap, he said the Uttar Pradesh government will ensure that the rural population gets vaccinated.

“A careful review of the Covid situation in both rural and urban areas of the state in the meetings held by chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath, along with the efforts of Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) to be constantly in touch with the COVID patients, both in home isolation and those with minor symptoms, has made it possible to control the spread of coronavirus in the state,” Singh said.

Further, Singh dismissed allegations made by various politicians against his government’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in the state.

“The unruly comments that the opposition leaders make is not good. This is a global pandemic and the only hope to save the nation is to vaccinate…it is important for every single person to be vaccinated. These kind of statements do not only create misunderstanding but also degrades the image of the nation because the media today is international,” the minister added.

Meanwhile, talking about the cases of black fungus, the Uttar Pradesh minister said that the state had enough stock of Amphotericin-B, the drug used to tackle the fungal infection.

Yesterday, the active coronavirus cases came down below 2,000 both in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad, two of the highly affected districts of western Uttar Pradesh.

Moreover, the number of active Covid-19 cases in the state reached 52,244 from 58,270 on Thursday while the overall recoveries climbed to 16,13,841.

The death toll in the state surged to 20,053 yesterday.