8 hours ago
Mamata Banerjee holds review meeting as Covid cases surge in Bengal
Kolkata: With West Bengal accounting for the third highest active Covid cases in India after Kerala and Gujarat, chief minister Mamata Banerjee held a meeting on Monday with top government officials and experts to take stock of the preparations in the state.
'We held a meeting today so that we may remain prepared. Senior officials from various departments attended the meeting along with experts in the field. We hope that there won't be another pandemic. We need to remain alert. But there is no need to panic,' Banerjee told media persons at the state secretariat after the meeting.
There were at least 747 active Covid cases in the state till Monday morning. At least 54 active cases were added in the last 24 hours. While Kerala has 1,957 active cases, Gujarat has 980 cases. There were at least 6,491 active Covid-cases in India till Monday morning. One death has been reported from West Bengal.
The doctors who attended the meeting at the state secretariat said that the virus, which is presently affecting people, is a subvariant of the Omicron.
'Till now it is not regarded as a 'variant of concern'. This subvariant is likely to trigger normal influenza-like cough and cold. We expect this wave to spread fast and then fade away speedily,' said Dr Yogiraj Ray, head of infectious diseases department at the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in Kolkata.
Banerjee, however, said that the government wasn't rolling out any guidelines or imposing restrictions as of now.
'The meeting was held so that we may stay fully prepared and when the need arises, the people don't face any problem. We are, however, not imposing any restrictions at the moment because such a situation hasn't come. Out of a population of 1.3 billion, there are only around 5,000-odd Covid cases in the country,' she added.
The chief minister also said: 'Those with co-morbidities, including lung and heart related ailments, should go for checkup and treatment. Try to avail treatment in state-run hospitals so that unnecessarily you don't end up paying hefty bills. The state-run hospitals are well-equipped.'
