The state government has asked all district administrations, police and civic bodies to ensure that people wear masks in public places, the order coinciding with a fresh rise in Covid cases in Bengal post-Puja.
Officials said the government might reintroduce restrictions to prevent worsening of the situation.
The Bengal government’s senior officials met representatives of the district administrations and civic bodies and senior police officers on Saturday and asked them to be more vigilant.
The civic bodies and the district administrations were also asked to lay more stress on testing and tracking of contacts of Covid patients so they can be isolated at the earliest.
“Everyone was told that the authorities must ensure that Covid protocols, especially wearing of masks in public places, were followed,” an official of the state health department said.
Bengal reported 989 new Covid cases between 9am on Saturday and 9am on Sunday. Kolkata accounted for 273 cases. On October 1, Bengal had reported 708 new cases and the city accounted for 146 cases.
The health department official said government-run hospitals had increased the number of Covid beds, including critical care beds.
“We have enough beds in our hospitals even if there is a surge equal to the second wave witnessed earlier this year. If the rate of hospitalisation goes beyond that, we will need to further increase the bed count,” the official said.
The state government has also created a number of paediatric Covid beds fearing a rise in the number of hospitalisations among children.
The government will repeatedly urge people to wear masks, as that is the best strategy to prevent a fresh surge in cases.
Officials said the threat of rapid spread of Covid had been looming because of the way people were going around without masks on the Puja days.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, too, has decided to spread awareness about the benefits of wearing masks by making announcements from autorickshaws.
“Repeating the same message again and again is likely to make people aware of the reality that Covid is still around and we should not drop our guard,” said a KMC official.
Testing, tracking and isolating Covid patients is a strategy that was adopted at the beginning of the pandemic. The implementation became lax when numbers rose or when the case count dropped.
“We are calling up those testing positive for Covid. Many of them said they had visited multiple restaurants and pandals. It is impossible to track everyone they came in contact with. We are able to track only the close contacts and get them tested if they show any symptoms,” the KMC official said.