In the wake of the rising COVID19 cases post festivities, a lockdown has been imposed in Sonarpur municipality area in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal for three days — October 28-October 30.
Sonarpur, about 13 kilometres from state capital Kolkata, is a part of the area covered by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).
Expressing concerns over the rising COVID19 cases and deaths in the last 30 days in the state, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan recently wrote a letter to the Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare, West Bengal Narayan Swaroop Nigam.
He highlighted that West Bengal has reported 20,936 new cases and 343 new deaths in the last 30 days, accounting to 3.4 per cent of India’s new cases and 4.7 per cent of new deaths in the last 30 days. “One of the primary districts of concern is Kolkata,” reads the letter dated October 22.
“The district has reported high quantum of average daily new cases in the week ending 21st October along with more than 25% increase over the past week (from 217 cases in the week ending 14th Oct to 271 cases in the week ending 21st Oct) … The weekly testing trends in this district are also showing a downward trend. This calls for more proactive action on the testing front,” read the letter. This year, Durga Puja was celebrated from October 12 to October 15.
With the ongoing festive season, Bhushan said, it is crucial to emphasise the importance of implementing COVID-safe behaviour to maintain the collective gains made in the battle against the pandemic.
The Centre has said that an exponential surge in infections can be “in instances where the basic public health strategy of testing, tracking, treating, vaccinating and following Covid-appropriate behaviour are not followed.”
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reportedly claimed that the new cases of COVID19 in the state are mostly from those who have been fully vaccinated but their immunity after being administered both doses is not exceeding six months.
The latest data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shows India has registered 13,451 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday on October 26. With 7,163 cases, Kerala has reported the maximum number of cases. It is followed by Maharashtra (1,201), Tamil Nadu (1,090), West Bengal (806) and Mizoram (740).
