The Bengal government has decided to put in place all activities that were followed during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic in October last year with novel coronavirus cases making an alarming rise in the state again over the past few weeks.
“We are apprehending that we will reach a situation similar to what we faced during the peak of pandemic in October last year. We have activated all our resources so that we can reach the level of preparedness within the next two days,” said a senior health department official.
Sources in the health department said the state government wanted to increase the number of tests and beds, open more safe houses and generate awareness among the masses to follow Covid-19 protocols, including wearing masks in public places.
The government would also follow the norms of 50 per cent attendance of employees in government offices once again, which was diluted in the past few months.
Officials in the health department said they were preparing for a tough time as the number of active cases had increased rapidly in the past few weeks.
Till mid-March, the number of active cases was over 2,200. But the figure had reached 16,109 on Wednesday.
“This is alarming. We are heading towards a disaster for two reasons. First, no Covid-19 protocol is being followed in election rallies. Second, common people are not following Covid-19 protocols while going out of homes. If no action is taken right at the moment, we may face more than 10,000 daily cases at the end of April," said an official.
Till now, the state government has not yet considered imposing any restrictions like night curfew which some states have already adopted to prevent spread of the virus.
“The problem of Bengal is that elections are on and there is no political boss to take a call on the issue. That’s why the officials are putting all possible arrangements ready to tackle more cases in the coming days,” said a source.