As COVID-19 cases surge in Agra, Chief Medical Officer gets replaced; UP CM sends five officers to monitor situation

As the number of patients affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) surges in Uttar Pradesh's Agra, the administration has ramped up measures to get a solid grip of the situation as soon as possible since the pandemic outbreak is spreading like wildfire across India. With an urgent action from the Yogi Adityanath-led state government, the Chief Medical Officer and the Additional Director of Medical and Family Welfare have both been removed from their posts with immediate effect, new individuals having replaced them.

Special Officer Dr. RC Pandey has been asked to take charge as the new Agra Chief Medical Officer, while the erstwhile CMO, Dr. Mukesh Kumar Vats, has been assigned with the District Magistrate's Office.

In a similar fashion, the erstwhile Additional Director of Medical and Family Welfare of Agra, Dr. A.K. Mittal, has now been assigned to the Divisional Office, while Dr. Avinash Singh has been appointed in his place. Notably, the two ousted officials, Vats and Mittal, are set to retire in June.

The decision has been taken considering the current situation prevailing in Agra due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the region, said Amit Mohan Prasad, State Chief Secretary.

On the Chief Minister's direction, as many as 5 officers were scheduled to be sent to Agra on Sunday to control the COVID-19 situation here. These officers are -- Alok Kumar (Principal Secretary, Industrial Development), Rajneesh Dubey (Principal Secretary, Medical Education), Vijay Prakash (IG), Avinash Kumar (Additional Director Level) and Professor Alok Nath (Pulmonary Department, SGPGI).

It is to be noted that the first positive case of COVID-19 infection in Uttar Pradesh was found in Agra. Soon after the first case was detected, the coronavirus figures for the state grew exponentially.

Currently, Agra has about 24 deaths and 756 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the highest in the state, followed by Kanpur Nagar (301) and Lucknow (250). The increasing number of patients remains a tough challenge to tackle for the state government and the Agra district administration.