Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the state government may have to impose stricter curbs if Covid cases continue to rise in Bengal while pointing out that the current restrictions had been imposed to save both lives and livelihood.

“Covid positive cases have increased rapidly over the past seven days as a total of 45,417 people were tested positive during the period... If positive cases continue to rise, we may be forced to impose stricter restrictions,” the chief minister said after a cabinet meeting in Nabanna.

She explained that ongoing restrictions — termed partial and put in place since January 3 — were planned to save both lives and livelihood.

“If we close down suburban local trains completely, many people will suffer. If we allow trains, people are not adhering to norms. What should we do,” said Mamata, who returned to Nabanna for the first time in 2022.

Mamata said the next 15 days were crucial for Bengal and appealed to people to adhere to pandemic protocols.

She pointed out that some people were still not wearing masks. “The government cannot ensure that everybody wears masks. It is on the common people to consider how wearing masks will save their lives. We can save ourselves,” she said, adding police would ensure that nobody moved around without a mask.

Mamata pointed out so far 2,920 people had been admitted to hospitals and the discharge rate was 96.8 per cent and the fatality rate 1.18 per cent.

“The symptoms are mild this time, but we have to be careful. Seven days of home isolation is good enough as per the guideline of the central government,” said Mamata.

Elaborating on the facilities, she said: “We have developed 194 hospitals as Covid hospitals in which 32,268 beds will be made available. Already, 19,517 beds have been made functional. A total of 4,180 HDU and CCU beds will be made available soon and 3,000 such beds have already been made functional.”

The state has set up 267 containment zones and 136 micro containment zones, but the figure would go up if positive cases went up.

During the cabinet meeting, where eight ministers were present, Mamata asked ministers to ensure strict norms in containment zones.

“I heard many are roaming around in containment zones without wearing masks. This has to be stopped and you have to look into these,” a minister quoted Mamata as saying.

Later, chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi held a virtual meeting with district magistrates where they were told to allow home delivery services even after night restrictions are clamped at 10pm. Officials were also asked to implement night curbs strictly. Bureaucrats were asked to avoid physical meetings as far as possible and use the virtual platform..

Mamata angry

The chief minister publicly expressed her annoyance with her younger brother Baban Banerjee as he did not isolate himself after his wife tested Covid positive.

“Charity begins at home... I am very upset with my youngest brother. He is meeting people even after his wife was tested positive. I have asked him to follow strict protocol,” she said.