West Bengal Covid-19 Cases Cross 4,000 Mark; State Says No Infrastructure After Amphan To Support Migrants

The West Bengal government said that those arriving from other states will be tested only if they show Covid-19 symptoms

West Bengal reported 193 more Covid-19 positive patients, taking the total number of cases reported from the state to over 4,000. 

The government said that five more people had died from the novel coronavirus in the state. 

Meanwhile, the Mamata Banerjee government said that for those arriving in Bengal from other states will be tested only if they show Covid-19 symptoms because of lack of infrastructure after cyclone Amphan. 

Bengal is also mulling on more home quarantines as shelters, that would have functioned as Covid-19 centres, are now occupied by hundreds rendered homeless because of the cyclone. 

The state will also introduce OPD testing of Covid-19 to increase testing. 

4,009 cases reported in Bengal so far 

According to the West Bengal government bulletin, a total of 4,009 cases have been reported from Bengal so far. 

However, the number of active cases stood at 2,240. 

The state reported that five more people had died, and put the total death toll at 211, without counting the 72 deaths of coronavirus positive patients who the state said had died of co-morbidities. 

The Union government counted the Bengal death toll 283, counting those 72 deaths. 

The bulletin said that 72 more patients had recovered by Tuesday, taking the total number of people discharged in the state to 1,486. 

Bengal has carried out a total of 1,57,277 tests, of which 9,228 were carried out on Tuesday. 

No infrastructure after Amphan, only migrants with symptoms to be tested 

In cyclone Amphan’s aftermath, Bengal is already struggling to cope with the Covid-19 situation, and has said that it no longer had the infrastructure to support lakhs of migrants returning from other states. 

The government suggested home quarantine for them, instead of putting them in government facilities and said only those with Covid-19 symptoms would be tested. 

An unnamed health department official was quoted by The Telegraph as saying, “Bengal did not receive trains with migrant workers in the past one week because of Cyclone Amphan. But now, 15 trains would be coming every day on an average in the next two days. As the state administration was busy dealing with relief and restoration works in the cyclone-hit areas, it is not possible to test each and every returnee.”

Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said that the government was aware that this would be a huge problem for the public health system in the state. 

He was quoted by PTI as saying, “We are trying to simplify certain procedures at the different (interstate) borders, railway stations so that there is no big gathering in the quarantine centres, thereby increasing chances of people being infected by coronavirus... That is why the Health Department has constituted protocols.”

It was announced that people returning to Bengal in trains or flights who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic should opt for home quarantine. For those who are severely symptomatic, swab tests with appropriate medical assistance will be followed, PTI reported. 

Bandyopadhyay said the government respected the migrant labourers’ decision to return home, but with the devastation caused by Amphan, the state’s infrastructure like roads, schools and buildings, health and food for them are insufficient.

“Keeping these in mind, we are in discussion with different state governments to bring in the returnees in a planned and staggered manner so that mutually-acceptable schedules are honoured. So that they (migrant workers) can come back home and not need to stay in unhealthy infrastructure,” he said.

“That is the reason we are framing our guidelines, stressing on home quarantine instead of institutional quarantine,” Bandyopadhyay said, adding that decentralised arrangements for medical isolation were being simplified for the purpose.

This raised questions about the how the Covid-19 situation could be tackled as in some state, people who have tested positive in the last few days are all returnees from other states. 

The Telegraph report quoted an unnamed senior government official as saying that Malda saw more than 30 Covid-19 positive cases and Birbhun saw 9, and “all the positive persons were from those states where the disease has spread deep”. The official claimed that both Birbhum and Malda had lower number of cases before this.  

Bengal to begin OPD testing

Emphasising on the need to test more people, the West Bengal Health Department decided on Tuesday to allow a person to be taken to the sample collection unit through the outpatient department (OPD) for a coronavirus test, PTI reported.

An advisory by the department on revised detection strategy and testing criteria on Tuesday stated that a person “has to be taken to the sample collection unit through the OPD or the fever clinic, in case he is symptomatic, and sample is to be taken on doctor’s advice”.

“In the present scenario, the need has arisen to test people in certain situations where he/she is asymptomatic or has no definite contact history,” PTI reported the advisory as saying. “Hence the issue of OPD-based testing has also come up. Opening up of provisions for home isolation/quarantine has made the matter further relevant,”

The private hospitals that have an approved laboratory for testing coronavirus may go for a walk-in sample collection system, maintaining the necessary bio-safety measures, it said.

The suspected patient has to be taken to the sample collection unit through the OPD and sample is to be taken on doctor’s advice. Social distancing and disinfection process have to be duly maintained in the units, the advisory said.

The COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal rose to 211 on Monday and the cases climbed to 4,009 after 193 more people tested positive.

(With PTI inputs)