Senior officials of the administration and state health department have alerted people to adhere to Covid-19 protocols during Durga Puja.
Sushanta Roy, the officer on special duty on Covid deputed by the state government in north Bengal, warned pandal-hoppers not to become lax.
“We have started random rapid antigen tests in marketplaces (to test for Covid). Mobile testing kiosk vans are moving through north Bengal districts and tests are being carried out randomly. The idea is to isolate Covid positive patients before Durga Puja. However, if people keep crowding at different places ahead of and during the festival, there is always a chance that positive cases will steadily increase. There is no space for leniency,” said Roy.
“We are in touch with Durga Puja organisers and asking them to maintain Covid norms,” Roy added.
On Friday, administrative officials and those in the health department held a meeting here to assess the situation and draw up plans to make necessary preparations ahead of the festivities.
In Darjeeling district, sources said that the positive rate was 14.92 per cent, slightly on the higher side. “If people don’t take care of the Covid norms during the festivities, the positive rate will surely go up,” a source said.
The health department, sources said, has made preparations to handle extra patients. In Siliguri, there are 484 beds at the Covid hospitals of which 114 beds are on standby.
There are 186 CCU beds in Darjeeling district with another 88 beds recently added. In all, 197 ventilators are available for critical patients to which 88 more will be added.
“We have an adequate number of doctors, nurses and health workers but still we do not want anyone to come to the hospital,” Roy said, underlining the need for caution during festivities.
Administrative and police officers are worried about the extent to which the safety alert would work, because in places such as Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Malda, thousands move in from other towns, villages of Bengal and from neighbouring states of Bihar and Assam for pandal-hopping. “There is no curb on peoples’ movement. If people keep on coming to Siliguri to visit pandals, we don’t know what to do (to contain the spread of Covid). With overcrowding, there is always a risk that Covid cases would rise,” said a senior official.
