With West Bengal entering Durga Puja mode and holiday season shopping in full swing, the state is witnessing a steady rise in Covid-19 numbers.
The positivity rate, the proportion of people who tested positive compared to those who received the test, skyrocketed from around 6.6% on Sept. 5 to around 8.3% on Oct. 5 in the state.
“The Puja purchase has started. People are in the streets and the markets are full of people. Members of the puja committees are also meeting where pandals arise. The positivity rate is increasing because of this. We have to be very cautious and strictly make sure that people wear masks, “said a senior state government official.
The number of new Covid-19 cases reported daily has also witnessed a sharp 73% increase in Kolkata in the last month. While the city had registered 428 new cases on August 30, on September 6 the number of new cases reported from Kolkata was 742. Daily cases are also increasing on the outskirts of the city. The North 24 Parganas district, which has the second highest number of Covid-19 after Kolkata, in West Bengal, had registered fewer than 600 cases as of August 30. On September 6, it registered 712 cases.
With the festive season beginning in mid-September with Viswakarma Puja and Mahalaya, the Durga Puja, Bengal’s largest annual festival that continues for more than a week, is scheduled for the last week of October.
“I ask people to wear masks when they go to the markets to buy puja. Try to wear gloves or at least try to sanitize your hands while shopping. We need to take precautions. Care must also be taken during puja when pandal jumping begins. Puja committees should have hand sanitizers available, ”said Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal’s chief minister, while addressing a management meeting Tuesday in the West Midnapore district.
The state government had previously issued detailed guidelines to puja organizers and the police on how Durga Puja would be carried out this year. On Tuesday, the Union Home Office also issued standard operating procedures on how to contain the spread of the viral infection during the holiday season.
This year, more than 37,000 bids will be organized across the state, including more than 2,500 in Kolkata and around 1,700 bids organized by women. The list does not include those organized within housing and house societies.
“There would be no carnival or cultural festival post-dive during the days of the puja. A series of pros and cons has been prepared on how the bid would be organized. These have already been distributed among all the bidding committees, ”said Saswata Basu, Secretary General of the Durgotsab Forum.
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