UP govt cancels leave of health officials till Jan 31
The Family Welfare Department of Uttar Pradesh has cancelled all leaves of officers and employees of the Directorate General, in view of "proposed COVID-19 vaccination in the months of December 2020 and January 2021, during which their cooperation is needed."
According to the order, the leaves of all officers and employees of the Medical and Health Department have been canceled till January 31 next year except this month. These include doctors, nurses, contract workers and daily wage workers. An order in this regard has been issued by the Director-General of Medical, Health and Family Welfare.
At the same time, the officers and employees on leave have been instructed to contribute to their duty at their office from December 16.
In the first phase, frontline workers- doctors, paramedics, hospital staff including those from private as well will be given the vaccine. We have identified around 23,000 people for vaccination in the first phase in Gorakhpur, said Chief Medical Officer of Gorakhpur District Hospital Dr Shrikant Tiwari.
Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer India, Serum Institute of India (SII), and Bharat Biotech have already applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorisation of their respective COVID vaccines.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state has faired well in terms of coronavirus management, despite being the most populous state
"Despite being the most populous state, UP has given best results for Covid mgmt. Two months back the state had 68,000 active cases & now it's less than 18,000. UP is the state to conduct the most number of tests, we have the lowest positivity rate & lowest mortality rate," news agency ANI quoted Adityanath as saying.
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