Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) played a crucial role in preventing healthcare workers who come in contact with suspected or positive cases of Covid-19 from getting infected. Workers prepare Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for medical staff at a workshop in Maheshtala in Kolkata. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)
Continuing with its one-week trend of recording new single-day high, West Bengal on Monday logged 8,426 new Covid-19 cases and 38 deaths linked to the virus. Kolkata witnessed its highest one-day spike with 2,211 cases followed by 1,801 in North 24 Parganas.
Of the fresh deaths, the state capital recorded the highest at 12. With the new cases, the recovery rate dropped to 90.42 per cent.
“This second wave is worse than the first. The samples have a high positivity rate. After January when Covid cases came down and vaccines were introduced, everyone got relaxed. No one was concerned about the virus. People attended rallies without masks. Now, we have to face the consequences. In fact, people resisted getting vaccinated. Now when there is a shortage of vaccine, everyone is worried,” said Shanta Dutta, Director of National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (Niced).
The new cases have taken the total caseload to 6,68,353 cases while the death toll reached 10,606.
As many as 98,50,278 samples, including 42,118 in the last 24 hours, have been tested. As per the Health Department’s bulletin, 6.73 per cent of these samples have returned positive.
Meanwhile at a time when health infrastructure is coming under pressure, the Association of Health Service Doctors, West Bengal, has decided to help Covid patients staying in home isolation on phone.
“Millions of people have been affected. Lots of people have died. Crores of people have lost their jobs. Our country and our state have suffered immensely. However, it seems that the state and central governments have been sleeping,” said Dr Manas Gumta, General Secretary of Association of Health Service Doctors.
The association wrote another letter to Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay asking him to resume the 24×7 Covid control room and announce one month additional salary and high-risk allowance for all healthcare workers. Here are some of the numbers that Covid patients can dial for help: 9477053808 (Dr Utpal Banerjee); 9830107957 (Dr Atish Halder); 9331048886 (Dr Kajal Krishna Banik); and 9830155463 (Dr Runa Bal).
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
