Coronavirus | Active cases in West Bengal mount to 89

Twelve more cases recorded in the State in the past 24 hours; three persons have recovered

The number of active COVID-19 cases in West Bengal increased to 89, West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said here on Friday. Twelve more cases were recorded in the State in the past 24 hours and three persons have recovered. Instead of the total positive cases, the West Bengal government is providing ‘active cases’ which exclude those who have recovered and the people who died of the disease.

The Chief Secretary said the figures of death due to COVID-19 had remained five. “We are seeing in a number of media and on social media that we are not giving proper figures of death. I want to tell you that whatever reports of death [due to COVID-19] we are receiving we are sending them to the audit committee. When the expert committee is saying that the death is due to COVID we are including that,” Mr. Sinha said. He said if the committee was saying that there were co-morbidities then the State government was not including it. The Chief Secretary said no municipality or any other body could give figures of death due to coronavirus. “As on April 10, the number of death remains five,” he said.

Lockdown in hotspots

Mr. Sinha said that in areas where more cases of viral infection had come up, hotspots had been identified and proper protocol for lockdown would be ensured in these areas. After hotspots, related clusters would be identified. But there is no clarity on which areas have been identified as COVID-19 hot spots. 

The State government, however, has been maintaining that most of the cases, about 60 of them, are from 11 families from areas like Kalimpong in north Bengal, Tehatta in Nadia, Egra in Purba Medinipur, Kolkata and Howrah.

https://www.thehindu.com