The spike in Covid cases in Kolkata and other parts of Bengal after Durga Puja could have been avoided had people behaved responsibly on the festive days, public health experts and civic officials said on Thursday.
The only way to avoid a fresh wave of infections is to come out of the state of complacency and denial and get tested even if a person is having symptoms of common influenza, they said.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Thursday decided to identify people with symptoms and get them and their contacts tested, in an attempt to prevent a surge.
On Thursday, October 21, Bengal recorded 833 new cases of Covid. According to the KMC, Kolkata had 260 new cases on Thursday.
Just before the Puja, on October 9, Bengal had 776 new cases and Kolkata 162.
On September 21, Bengal had 537 new Covid cases and Kolkata 108.
“This spike was expected after we saw tens of thousands of people roaming around during the Puja, many without masks. It seemed a desperate attempt to lose the gains of the last one-and-a-half year. We are moving towards another fresh wave and that was avoidable,” said Abhijit Chowdhury, public health expert and convenor of the Bengal government’s global advisory board on Covid.
“There was panic during the first wave. That has been replaced by a false sense of security and complacency in the last couple of months,” said Chowdhury.
“The complacency is probably because we thought we are safe because we are vaccinated. But we tend to forget that none below 18 is vaccinated.”
He urged the people to get out of the state of denial and get tested “even if they have symptoms of influenza”.
The KMC held a meeting on Thursday to find out ways about how to control the fresh surge.
“Of the 260 new cases on Thursday, 210 are asymptomatic. That is dangerous because they can spread the infection on a large scale,” said Atin Ghosh, who heads the civic health department as a member of the KMC’s board of administrators.
The KMC, he said, has cancelled the leave of its employees. Covid vaccination and tests resumed on Tuesday.
“We have directed the civic health department to identify people with mild symptoms who are not getting tested. They should be tested for Covid and if found positive, all the contacts should be tested, too,” said Ghosh.
Several private hospitals reported a rise in the number of Covid patients.
The three units of AMRI Hospitals — in Dhakuria, Mukundapur and Salt Lake — had around 30 Covid patients admitted before the Puja. On Thursday, the number was around 50, said Rupak Barua, group CEO, AMRI.
Belle Vue Clinic had 35 Covid patients on Thursday. The number was below 15 before the festive season, said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue.