Eight die even as West Bengal government works to alleviate curbs in red zones

During the day, a large number of private vehicles were seen on the road in the non-containment areas of the city. (Representational)

The state government announced Thursday that coronavirus disease (Covid-19) had claimed eight more lives, bringing the death toll to 143, even as it worked to reduce restrictions to some extent in districts designated as red zones due to to the large number of cases reported from there. If comorbid deaths are taken into account, the count is 215.

Six of the eight patients who died are from Calcutta, while the other two are from Howrah. Both districts, which are among the four red zones along with North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur, also accounted for more than half of the 87 new positive cases detected in the 24 hours through Thursday 9 am – 31 in Kolkata, and 25 in Howrah – according to the health bulletin, bringing the total number of cases to 2,377.

The other infections were reported in the districts of North 24 Parganas (16), South 24 Parganas (five), Paschim Bardhaman (three), Purba Medinipur (two), Nadia (two), Purba Bardhaman (one), Hooghly (one) . A person from another state currently stranded in West Bengal also tested positive.

However, despite the increasing number of infections in the red zones, the Mamata Banerjee government has decided to divide them into three categories, with brakes to varying degrees. Red Zone A will have no relaxation, Red Zone B will have some relaxation, and Red Zone C will have some relaxation outside its containment zones.

There are more than 550 containment zones in these districts. Kolkata, which is the epicenter of the pandemic in the state, has 340 of those areas.

A senior official at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation said the civic corps may decide not to seal entire areas where infections are detected. The corporation is also developing plans to identify the containment areas.

“Until now, when an infection is detected in the entire patient’s house, the road in front of the house and the adjacent areas have been identified as red zones. This led to the closure of a large number of roads. Discussions are now underway to identify only the Covid-19 patients’ home and adjoining homes so that they can be identified as red zones. There will be surveillance on the road in front of that house. Soon, officials from the health department and Kolkata will conduct a survey.

The police on this and a decision will be made accordingly, “the official added.

During the day, a large number of private vehicles were seen on the road in the non-containment areas of the city. Government buses, which restarted services the day before, carried passengers according to social distancing rules. Small shops and independent shops remained operational until night, but liquor stores in and around Kolkata remained mostly closed.

Some fall within the containment zones, while others are running out of stock. Several private offices in the city also operated with a 50 percent workforce.

Meanwhile, 66 patients were discharged from hospitals in the past 24 hours, the government said, raising the discharge rate from 30.66 percent to 32.31 percent. So far, 767 patients have recovered from the disease. Overall, the active case count increased from 1,381 to 1,394.

According to the health bulletin, 5,205 samples were analyzed in one day. With this, health officials have examined 62,837 samples to date, with 3.78 percent positive samples. The department said 8,980 people were in government quarantine, while 34,414 people were isolated in their homes.

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