The Bengal chief minister on Wednesday announced a sentinel survey— which studies the pattern of a disease during a pandemic — for a large-scale preparation to meet the challenges arising from the spread of Covid-19.

“We are the first state to conduct the survey. It will help us prepare a plan to deal with the spread of the disease,” Mamata Banerjee said at Nabanna on Wednesday.

Sources in the government said the survey was planned following return of more than two lakh migrant workers to Bengal from states such as Maharastra, Gujarat and Delhi where the disease had spread rapidly.

The global advisory board headed by Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee had advised the state to undertake the survey and the government accepted the proposal.

“As large-scale movement of stranded people would take place in the next few weeks, it was essential to identify the challenges the state is set to face. Based on the findings, the state can prepare itself to meet the challenges in future,” said a senior government official.

A senior official said at least 200 samples would be tested from each district every week. The samples would be collected from high risk as well as low risk groups. Pregnant women and general patients visiting OPDs are categorised as low risk groups while health workers are considered as high risk group.

The WHO states that “the data collected in a well-designed sentinel system is used to signal trends, identify outbreaks and monitor the burden of disease in a community, providing a rapid, economical alternative to other surveillance methods”.

Another official said based on the finding of the survey, the state government could plan what kind of lockdown was required in which area, what the nature of containment zones should be and the required upgrade of health infrastructure in a particular area.

“This is important because the state government is planning to give some more relaxations across the state in the next few days. We want to start economic activities as early as possible, but at the same time, we have to keep an eye on the spread of Covid-19 too,” said a bureaucrat.

Fest allowance

The Bengal government has announced a festival allowance of Rs 4,200 for the employees drawing salary up to Rs 34,250 a month. The government has hiked the amount by Rs 200 compared to last year.

The state government has also brought more employees under the bonus benefit as the salary cap for the eligible has been raised to Rs 34,250 from Rs 30,000. Moreover, the government has announced a salary advance of Rs 10,000 for employees drawing a monthly pay up to Rs 41,100. A sum of Rs 400 crore would be required to extend the benefit to nearly 10 lakh government employees and employees of aided institutes like schools.