Coronavirus: 80 staff of Uttar Pradesh CM helpline centre test positive for COVID-19

The Uttar Pradesh government’s health data shows that the weekly average of increase in the COVID-19 cases in the first week of June was 412 cases per day, which reduced to 356 cases per day in the second week.

Lucknow: At least 80 people working for the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's helpline service here have tested positive for COVID-19, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"The first case (among those working at the helpline) was detected around 4-5 days back," the official told PTI.

The helpline service '1076' has been outsourced to a company.

"We had visited the place almost a month back, and they were properly told masks and sanitisers have to be used by everyone. They (the company) forwarded us photographs and videos of people wearing masks while working," the official said.

However, the official refused to comment on whether any action has been initiated against the company, which was providing the services.

The Yogi Adityanath government had last year launched the chief minister's helpline number '1076'. 

The 24X7 toll-free helpline number enables residents of the state to file their complaints. It was launched to establish a direct link between the people and the chief minister's office.

However, Uttar Pradesh is one of the four states which are reporting a decline in the rate of new infections.

These states have seen the rate of increase drop by nearly two per cent, giving relief to local authorities.

Three of these states are the biggest source of migrant workers in the country. The number of COVID-19 cases started swelling here when these workers started returning home due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

(With inputs from PTI)