The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh - the country's most populous state with 220 million people - has earned appreciation for its COVID-19 management strategy from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Yogi Adityanath government has issued a statement by Roderico Ofrin, WHO Country Representative, which says that the state's strategic response of boosting contact tracing efforts to mitigate coronavirus spread is exemplary.

Ofrin, in the statement, appreciated the chief minister and the government of the state for tracing high-risk contacts and setting a good example for the rest of the country to follow, the government spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that this level of high-risk contact tracing of positive COVID-19 patients was achieved through 70,000 healthcare workers that worked across the state.

WHO recognises the significance of contact tracing in dealing with the pandemic and its spread and hence Ofrin asserted that well-trained frontline healthcare workers and systematic tracing and tracking of contacts is the key to implement successful surveillance to prevent the spread of the Corona virus.

"The WHO team provided technical support to the state government to boost contact tracing efforts and strengthen the capacity of field teams through training. Field monitors assessed the quality of contact tracing of 58,000 COVID-19 positive cases in 75 districts and found that 93 per cent of the high-risk contacts were traced and tested," said Madhup Bajpai, regional team leader, Uttar Pradesh Region, WHO-NPSP (National Police Surveillance Project).

The Uttar Pradesh government is now preparing to implement safety protocols during the Chhath Puja festival that begins on Wednesday.

The government has already issued alerts across all the districts for special precautions keeping in mind Covid-safety protocol, the spokesperson said.

(IANS)