Covid cases touch three digits in West Bengal, no death reported

Sumati Yengkhom. TNN , Jun 11, 2022, KOLKATA: The Covid-19 case load in Bengal rose further for the fourth consecutive day to reach the three-digit figure on Friday with 107 fresh cases cropping up in the past 24 hours. The last time the state logged fresh cases in three digits was on March 11 when 106 cases had been reported along with two deaths. On Friday, the state, however, did not have any Covid-19 death.

Since March second week the Covid graph in the state has been like a see-saw when the number mostly kept hovering between 20 and 50. But since June 6 the number has been on the rise as the cases jumped from 53 to 107 on Friday. Even as the spike at the moment is slow, health officials said the constant rise is a matter of concern.

“Though small in number, there is a spike in Covid-19 cases in Bengal. There is sharper rise in states like Maharashta, Delhi, Karnataka and Kerala. Now that travel is open, people should follow Covid protocol and start using masks in crowded places. Vaccination tempo, too ,has to be pick up a pace,” said senior physician Sukumar Mukherjee, member state’s Global Advisory Board on Covid-19.

The positivity rate has also gone up slightly from 1.2% on Thursday to 1.3% on Friday. The number of patients under hospital care, however, remained between 20 and 30 for about three weeks now.

“Some studies have suggested spike in cases in every six months. As long as hospital requirement remains low and mortality is under control, we should not be imposing extremely stringent public health policies. At present, our approach will be to protect people who are into the high risk category,” said surgery professor Diptendra Sarkar, a member of the Covid-19 task force at the government-run IPGMER.

During the third wave the case load touched the two digits for the first time on February 28. Even as the number kept swaying between two and three digits after this, it rescinded to two digits from March 11.

Health experts are concerned about the large number of people who have not yet taken the second dose of Covid vaccine as well as those who are still shying away from their booster dose. Doctors like Mukherjee and Sarkar felt that it is high time for the government to open booster jab from all government CVCs, which is now restricted to senior citizens and healthcare workers. The rest have to get the third dose from private CVCs.

“Around 30 lakh people have taken the booster jab in Bengal. Therefore, along with a door-to-door campaign for the second dose, opening the government CVCs for every adult to get the booster jab will escalate the drive,” said Mukherjee.