PremiumTo curb the COVID-19 spread in the sate, the West Bengal government has announced complete lockdown across the state for two days every week. The strict lockdown measure will be starting from this week. The state government declared full lockdown on July 23 and July 25 in Bengal, Alapan Bandyopadhyay, home secretary, West Bengal said. All offices, transport services will be shut on those two days, he said.
"Next week, the shutdown will be clamped on July 29," the home secretary said
The containment zones in the states were strict lockdown, according the guidelines released by the Union ministry of health and family affair. There were 'broad-based' containment zones in the state. The state government has recently clubbed containment zones and the buffer zones around them to constitute a 'broad-based' containment zone.
"Community transmission of COVID-19 recorded in a few areas in West Bengal," Bandyopadhyay said during his press briefing.
The state government planned to set up COVID-19 units at every private and state-run hospital, amid the rapid surge in coronavirus cases, according to a report by news agency Press Trust of India. During the first phase, the COVID-19 units will be set up in the state general hospitals of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Purba and Paschim Medinipore districts, he said.
"Increasing the number of beds in the hospitals in the districts is the only option we have. It will also ease the pressure on city hospitals," the official added.
Mamata Banerjee government was also planning to ramp up testing in the state. "The manner in which COVID-19 cases are increasing in West Bengal is quite concerning. To counter the spread, the best way is to conduct more tests and improve the infrastructure...We have planned to set up COVID-19 units at all the state-run and private hospitals in Bengal," the official told PTI.
The total number of coronavirus patients in the state stood at 42,487. The deadly virus claimed 1,112 lives in the eastern state.
Last week, Mamata Banerjee-led government extended the restriction on domestic flights from high prevalence places to Kolkata. No flights from six cities in the country will be allowed at the Kolkata Airport till July 31. These cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad. West Bengal government earlier imposed a restriction on domestic flights from July 6 to 19.
