Uttar Pradesh govt should actively help people in rural areas battling COVID-19: Mayawati

Mayawati also expressed concern over the rising COVID-19 death toll in the country and called for making honest efforts to check it. 

In a tweet in Hindi, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, 'In rural areas of UP, coronavirus is rapidly infecting people and killing them. People are forced to somehow cremate the dead. For extending every kind of help to such desolate poor and destitute families, the government should immediately move beyond mere proclamations and become active.' 

She said according to government claims, cases of coronavirus infection are decreasing in the country, which is a matter of some relief, but the number of deaths from coronavirus is increasing. 

"Whatever the reason may be, this is a very sad situation for which honest efforts are most important at all levels," Mayawati added. 

Uttar Pradesh's COVID-19 tally on Wednesday rose to 16,44,851 with 7,336 fresh cases, the lowest single-day rise since April 30, while 282 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 18,354, an official said.