West Bengal reports 2 more COVID-19 deaths, total fatalities rise to 22

West Bengal reported two more COVID-19 fatalities on Tuesday, raising the death toll due to the deadly virus in the state to 22, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said.

The top state bureaucrat said 28 new cases of COVID-19 have emerged from Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 and South 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts. Till Tuesday, 663 people in West Bengal were infected with coronavirus, he said. The Union health ministry, however, put the figure at 697. The total number of active cases is 522 and 119 people have been discharged so far, Sinha said.

Elaborating about the treatment of patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms and cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, at home, he said, "At home quarantine, they must be alert and have a 24x7 care giver. The patients must reside in a house where they can stay independently without mixing with any other family member."

The West Bengal government on Monday said primary or secondary contacts of COVID-19 patients can be placed under home quarantine, provided they have "reasonable living and physical spaces" and adhere to social distancing norms. Sinha said the list of containment zones in the state was "dynamic" and added that as on Tuesday, there were 227 such zones in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) areas, 56 in Howrah, 57 in North 24 Parganas and 8 in Purba Midnapore.

"We hope that in the next couple of days, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri may come out of the orange zone into the green zone if there are no reports of any new cases from these places," he said.

The chief secretary reiterated that the state government has made adequate arrangements at state-run hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients. "We have requested all private hospitals to set up isolated areas... Anybody can go to private hospitals. But, I would like to stress that we are totally prepared, and if you do not get admission in private hospitals, then we welcome them as we have ample number of beds to accommodate such patients in the four hospitals in Kolkata," Sinha said. He also said that 21 health workers, who were undergoing treatment for COVID-19, have received Rs 1 lakh each under the state government's insurance policy.