Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday praised the Yogi Adiyanath-led government for the handling of COVID-19, saying the way Uttar Pradesh had controlled the second wave of the infection was “unprecedented”.

Modi, who was on a one-day visit to Varanasi, said the state government’s efforts in combating COVID-19 was “commendable”. The population of UP is more than that of a dozen big countries combined, but the way “it has controlled the second wave and stopped the spread unprecedented”.