Two more die of COVID-19 in Bengal, toll rises to 12

West Bengal reported two more coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, taking their number to 12 as 23 new cases surfaced in the state, a top official here said. The state's count of COVID-19 infections stands at 233 as of now, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said.

"Two more deaths have been identified by the expert committee taking the total number of people dying in West Bengal to 12. There are 23 new cases reported in West Bengal and seven persons have recovered and the number of active cases today is 178," Sinha said. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, however, put the number of cases in the state at 287.

Seven people were discharged from hospitals after they tested negative for COVID-19, Sinha said, adding that at the moment, there were 178 active cases in West Bengal. Sixty-two patients have so far been discharged from the hospitals, the chief secretary told reporters at the state secretariat.

Sinha said the state has been successful in implementing its plans in connection with containment in parts of the city, neighbouring Howrah, in North 24 Parganas and in East Medinipur. "We have strongly implemented containment in parts of Kolkata. Please do not forget that containment is not implemented at a ward, or in a borough, but around a building or a lane. Containment is ongoing in Kolkata, in Howrah, in North 24 Parganas and in East Medinipur districts.

"Because, the last positive case from East Medinipur for coronavirus was received in April 11 and it will continue for another 14 days," Sinha said. He said that till Saturday, the total number of samples tested was 4,630, and from Sunday, the lab unit at Malda Medical College and Hospital will start operating.

"We have crossed the level of 400 sample testing per day. We have got Malda functioning from tomorrow. We expect that with Malda getting into operations with 50 tests per day we will be able to get more results," Sinha said. "In terms of the testing arena, we have a limitation as we all know that the approval comes from ICMR..." he said.

Talking about the state government’s preparations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Sinha said, "Our state is prepared to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Don’t create panic. We are waiting for approvals for more and more testing laboratories. But these are very complicated micro-biology tests, not routine pathology tests." He said the sooner the test results can be obtained, the quicker a person can be sent for treatment and proper precautionary measures taken. Sinha also said that 580 people were tested in Howrah and out of them, 62 tested positive for COVID-19.

"This is actually close to 10 per cent of the total number of people testing positive in other districts. So, Howrah is no big deal. In East Medinipur, 300 were tested and 18 were found to be infected by coronavirus," he said. The top bureaucrat said, "Not a single positive case has been reported from Kalimpong since April 2 and Jalpaiguri since April 4. The last positive case from East Medinipur was reported on April 11, West Medinipur, West Burdwan and Nadia districts on April 15. And on April 17, we received reports of positive cases from North 24 Parganas districts, one each from South 24 Parganas and Hooghly." "Most cases have been reported from either Howrah or parts of northern Kolkata and the southern part of the North 24 Parganas district," he added.

Sinha said the total number of people in government quarantine is 3,858 and the number in home-quarantine is 35,209. "We have 1,500 ventilators in the state, only 10 ventilators have been used so far. We have 7,969 beds in 66 COVID-19 hospitals and the total occupancy as on today is 178. So, we are totally prepared. We are using all technologies to keep a track of all these people who have been quarantined," he added.

The state government was planning at a micro-level to ensure no one in the state faces starvation or scarcity of essential commodities, Sinha said. Referring the 'Sneher Porosh' scheme to help migrants from West Bengal stuck in other states, the official said money will be disbursed from Monday.

"We will be sending a one-time grant of Rs 1,000 from Monday. We will seek a few information on the mobile app and then after verification we will release the fund. We will start sending money within a day after people start applying," Sinha added..