West Bengal announces total lockdown for 2 days every week amid spike in coronavirus cases

Kolkata, July 20: West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said that the state government will impose 2-day total lockdown in the state every week. This is in addition to the already enforced broad-based lockdown inside containment zones.

The lockdown in the current week to be imposed on Thursday (23 July) and Saturday (25 July).

The 2-day lockdown would be decided ahead and communicated by the government every week. The state to observe total lockdown also on Wednesday, 29 July.

Bandyopadhyay said the coronavirus is now in community transmission stage in some pockets of the state.

On Sunday, the COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal reached 1,112 after 36 people succumbed to the disease, the highest so far in a single day. Kolkata recorded the maximum 15 deaths, followed by neighbouring North 24 Parganas nine, Hooghly four, Howrah and South 24 Parganas three each, and Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur one each.

The West Bengal government is also planning to set up COVID-19 units at every private and state-run hospital, amid the relentless surge in the number of coronavirus cases, a senior official said.

A directive to improve infrastructure and accommodate separate units for COVID-19 patients has already been issued to all the state-run hospitals, he said.