The ongoing deadly surge in the COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh is expected to peak in mid-May, with the daily count likely to reach 1.9 lakh, according to the projections by Niti Aayog.
Uttar Pradesh would report the highest daily cases number in India by April 30 at 119,604, the projections read.
This would be followed by Maharashtra at 99,665 and Delhi at 67,134.
The projections were made in a presentation by Niti Aayog member Vinod K Paul, who heads a key Central panel, at the meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with chief ministers of high caseload states.
“Heavily populated states are at particular risk; and, health infrastructure in states is not adequate enough to cope with the present serious scenario,” according to VK Paul.
Like elsewhere in the country, the acute shortage of oxygen has been taking the lives of many in Uttar Pradesh’s major cities.
The daily shortage of isolation beds with oxygen in UP has been projected at around 16,752.
ICU beds would fall short by 3,061 and at least 1,538 ventilators would be required, according to the projections.
On Saturday, UP recorded its highest single-day spike in new infections and coronavirus-related deaths with 38,055 new infections and 223 deaths pushing the virus tally to 10,51,314 and the toll to 10,959.
However, Uttar Pradesh’s medical education minister Suresh Khanna told reporters there has been no death due to oxygen shortage in the state and state’s COVID-19 situation is not critical.
But media reports disputed this account, saying many COVID-19 patients have been evicted from the hospital and notices were put up in several hospitals in UP cities including Lucknow, Kanpur and Agra about a shortage of oxygen.
