'West Bengal govt trying hard to turn Covid-19 red zones into green zones': Med expert

Dr Sukumar Mukherjee, a medical expert in the COVID-19 advisory panel set by the state government on Sunday said that the West Bengal government is trying hard to pick up the red zones first and turning them into green zones. He said that the idea is to bring down the infectivity to 2%.

'West Bengal is following ICMR's guidelines'

"The West Bengal government is trying hard. Our idea is to bring down the infectivity to 2% in order to turn these red zones into green zones with two or three weeks," he said. "We have got more than 30,000 patients in-home quarantine and 3000 to 4000 people in hospital quarantine, so these are the attempts we have been taking and West Bengal is following the guidelines of ICMR," Mukherjee added.

He said that lockdown should never be stopped abruptly and it should be staggered. "Lockdown should never be stopped abruptly it should be staggered according to the prevalence rate and measures we have been following," he said.

The West Bengal government has decided to soon start rapid antibody tests to detect COVID-19 contagion, a senior official said on Sunday. The state government on Sunday received a total of 10,000 kits required to conduct such rapid tests, the official told PTI.

West Bengal to start rapid anti-body tests

"We have received 10,000 kits to conduct such tests... this will help us in initiating the rapid antibody tests following the guidelines of the Indian Council of medical research (ICMR)," he said. The rapid tests will be conducted at the hotspots, clusters, containment zones or as a surveillance tool for epidemiological purposes in such areas where cases have not emerged so far, an advisory issued by the state health department said.

The number of active coronavirus cases in West Bengal to date is 198, out of which 66 persons have been discharged after treatment. According to West Bengal Health and Family Welfare Department, "the number of active COVID-19 cases in the State stands at 198 now. 66 persons have been discharged after treatment and 12 persons have expired due to COVID-19."

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With 1,324 fresh cases registered in the last 24 hours, the total number of novel coronavirus count in India crossed more than 16,000 to reach 16,116 confirmed cases so far, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data. Along with that, the country's death toll has increased to 519, it said.

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(With agency inputs)