Less-affected districts start reporting Covid deaths

SNS, SILIGURI, 25 AUGUST 2020 : A total of five persons have died of Covid- 19 in Cooch Behar as of 24 August, according to the state government's report. The district had not reported such death until very recently. However, less-affected districts like Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Kalimpong have started witnessing Covid-19 deaths since 14 August. As per the government's health bulletin, two more persons have died of Covid-19 in Kalimpong, taking the toll there to three so far.

Similarly, eight persons have died in Alipurduar so far, and 61 in Darjeeling district as of 24 August.A maximum of the deaths in Darjeeling district have been reported in areas under the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad. On the other hand, 27 Covid patients died in Jalpaiguri, 18 in North Dinajpur, 23 in South Dinajpur and 31 in Malda district until yesterday, the Health Bulletin issued by the State Health and Family Welfare Department said. A total of 176 people have died in eight districts of North Bengal till 24 August, while the total number deaths reported in West Bengal was 2851. A total of 1,41,837 Covid- 19 cases were recorded in Bengal till yesterday. Of them, there are 27,694 active cases while the discharge rate was 78.46 percent.

Asked to comment Cooch Behar-based Trinamul Congress leader Rabindranath Ghosh, who is also the North Bengal Development Minister, said: "The coronavirus was transmitted in Cooch Behar owing to frequent movement of migrant workers, claiming five lives recently. Owing to a lack of strict vigilance, migrant workers do not report to the health department after their arrival"

Speaking to this correspondent, Minister Ghosh added: "A total of 2,300 samples were tested through the RT-PCR method yesterday. If we can test at least 3,000 samples a day, the situation will come under control as we can identify Covid-19 patients and give them proper treatment."

Notably, a section of the people, during the pandemic, in Cooch Behar, has demanded development of basic health infrastructure and even a cancer hospital, which would be named after the late Forward Bloc leader Kamal Guho. On this, Minister Rabindranath Ghosh said: "Late Kamal Guho set up a cancer detection and treatment centre privately. We proposed the state government take over the same with a view to running it in the interest of the people of this region, including neighbouring states. People of this region suffering from cancer go to Kolkata and other cities for treatment. But our proposal has not yet been considered, following the outbreak of Covid- 19."

Meanwhile, 10 persons died in the last 24 hours in north Bengal With this, 186 persons have died of Covid 19 in eight districts of the region so far, fresh government data showed.