The Jalpaiguri district administration will start a control room from Monday to keep a tab on Covid-19 patients who are staying at their homes across the district.

“It has been found that a number of patients infected with the contagion are staying in isolation at homes and are not following doctors’ advice. In some cases, patients are delaying in getting proper treatment. Earlier, such delay in treatment and admission had left many patients critical and some of them have even lost their lives. That is why, it has been decided to open a control room so that all these patients can be monitored on a regular basis,” said Moumita Godara Basu, the district magistrate.

At the control room, the administration will depute employees who will make phone calls to Covid patients and their family members on a regular basis to keep an update about their health condition, medicines and admission in hospital.

“If any patient is found to be critical, immediate arrangements would be made through the block and the district administration to facilitate his admission to a hospital. The mechanism, we believe, can help in reducing the number of deaths owing to Covid-19,” the district magistrate added.

In Jalpaiguri district, nine safe homes were opened earlier for treatment of Covid patients. Later, as the cases came down, these homes were closed down. “Those in charge of these safe homes have been asked to be on alert and also take steps to keep these facilities ready,” said a source in the administration.

In South Dinajpur, 15 areas spread across 11 wards of Balurghat town have been declared as containment zones following a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases. “On Wednesday, around 30 people were tested Covid positive here, which is highest during past two-three months. Areas from where the cases have been reported have been declared containment zones,” said an official in the administration.

Additional reporting by Kousik Sen in Raiganj