Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officers concerned to ensure that no government or private hospital denies admission to any COVID-19 patients if beds are available. "If a bed is not available in a government hospital, the patient should be sent to a private hospital," the UP government ordered.

Additional Chief Secretary (Information) Navneet Sehgal told reporters in an online press conference that the CM directed officials to take action against private hospitals found charging patients from poor families.

According to a government release, the last rites of every Covid casualty will be done as per the religion of the patient and the state government will bear the cost.

Directives in this regard have been sent to officials in rural and urban areas in the state.

Meanwhile, amid oxygen shortage in the country, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state government will conduct an audit of the life-saving gas, oxygen, in collaboration with various institutes.

The state on Sunday reported 35,614 new cases in 24 hours, following which the active caseload rose to 2,97,616. The toll climbed to 11,165 following 208 fatalities. Of the fresh deaths, Kanpur recorded the highest (19), followed by Varanasi (15), Lucknow (14), Gautam Buddh Nagar (11), Allahabad and Ghaziabad (10 each).

The CM has also informed that an order for one crore vaccine doses has been placed for the third phase of the vaccination drive beginning May 1.

"There is no shortage of oxygen in any Covid hospital, be it private or government. The problem is black marketing and hoarding, which will be tackled with a heavy hand. We are going to conduct an oxygen audit in collaboration with IIT Kanpur, IIM Lucknow and IIT BHU for proper monitoring of medical oxygen. The system of live tracking of oxygen demand, supply and distribution will be implemented," the chief minister had said in a virtual meeting.