The Centre has raised concern over the rising COVID-19 cases in West Bengal’s Kolkata region. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written a letter to Narayan Swaroop Nigam, sealth secretary of the West Bengal government, regarding new coronavirus infections and deaths in the state in the last 30 days.
“West Bengal 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,” wrote Rajesh Bhushan.
He added that one of the primary districts of concern was Kolkata where there was a “worrying trend with respect to cases” and a “concerning rise in positivity rate”.
“Kolkata has also reported an almost 27 per cent increase in positivity rate in the past week, from 5.6 per cent in the week ending October 14 to 7.1 per cent in the week ending October 21. The weekly testing trends in this district are also showing a downward trend. This calls for more proactive action on the testing front,” Bhushan said.
In view of the ongoing festive season, the Centre asked the West Bengal government to strictly enforce Covid-19 guidelines and focus on second dose coverage of all vaccine beneficiaries.
“With the ongoing festive season, it is crucial to emphasise the importance of Covid-safe festivities to maintain the collective gains made in the battle against this pandemic so far. The current trend of increasing daily new cases and case positivity, if left unchecked, may lead to a situation where there is a severe strain on the health infrastructure and health workforce,” the letter read.
