Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning to open camps to conduct Covid tests in places witnessing a sharp rise in cases, an official of the civic body said on Monday.
Public health experts and other doctors had apprehended a rise in the number of Covid cases post-Puja as revellers were seen moving around without masks on the festive days.
The Covid bulletin of the state health department published on Monday mentioned that 805 new cases were reported from the state between 9am on Sunday and 9am on Monday. Kolkata accounted for 229 of the cases.
The bulletin published on Sunday had mentioned that Bengal had reported 989 new Covid cases between 9am on Saturday and 9am on Sunday. The city accounted for 273 cases.
On October 1, the state had reported 708 new cases and the city 146 cases.
“We have decided to open camps to conduct RT-PCR tests in places where there has been a sharp rise in the number of Covid cases,” said a KMC official.
Another official said boroughs X, XI, XII and XIV were accounting for the maximum number of Covid cases. The boroughs cover areas like Tollygunge, New Alipore, Garia, Behala, Joka, Kasba, Jadavpur and the Mukundapur-Kalikapur-Anandapur belt.
“The special camps will widen the testing net and help detect an increasing number of asymptomatic contacts of Covid patients,” the official said.
“The earlier the asymptomatic carriers are detected and isolated, the better the virus can be contained.”
The KMC’s top brass held a meeting with the borough executive health officers, who are in charge of providing the civic body’s health services in each borough.
“The basic strategy remains the same. Track, test and isolate. The strategy was adopted at the outset of the pandemic. It has to be done now and, if required, in future,” said a KMC official.
This newspaper reported on Monday that the state government had asked all district administrations, police and civic bodies to ensure that people wear masks in public places to slow down the spread of the virus.
Officials hinted that the government might reintroduce restrictions to prevent further worsening of the situation.
The KMC’s health department has also been asked to keep ready places that can be used as safe homes and quarantine centres.
Safe homes are places where contacts of Covid patients who do not have space at home to isolate can stay.
Quarantine centres are meant for those who have tested positive and do not have space at home to stay isolated.