Covid in single digit in West Bengal

The Telegraph takes a look at how Covid restrictions have been relaxed at airports and hospitals following dip in fresh infections

SANJAY MANDAL | TT  |  29.11.22: The daily new Covid cases in West Bengal are in the single digit for the last one week.

According to the state health department, the state had three new Covid cases on Saturday and Sunday, lowest since the pandemic had started having it’s impact on lives in April 2020.

On Monday, there were seven new cases in the state and the number was also the same on November 22.

The Telegraph takes a look at how the Covid restrictions have been relaxed at airports and hospitals following the dip in numbers of fresh infections.

Airport

Wearing the mask is no longer mandatory at the airport or in the flights.

A Kolkatan, recently flying to the city from Bangalore, heard the announcement at the airport there that wearing mask was no longer mandatory but passengers could wear it for hygiene and that they should sanitise their hands frequently.

At Kolkata airport, some airlines are making similar announcements for the passengers, said an official.

“We had a team of personnel making rounds and finding out which passenger was not wearing a mask. They would ask the passengers to wear the mask and, in case of refusal, they would impose a fine. Now, the team has been dismantled and they have gone back to their original duties,” said the airport official.

The RT-PCR tests for arriving international passengers has also been withdrawn.

“Till recently, two percent of passengers arriving from certain countries would be randomly chosen for the test. That has also been discontinued,” said the official. He said the state health department has wrapped up the RT-PCR test counters at the terminal building.

The agency conducting RTPCR tests had set up a laboratory at the airport.

“The agency has been asked to wrap up the laboratory,” said the official.

After international flights had resumed partial operations, international passengers arriving in Kolkata had to wait for long to get RT-PCR tests done and then for the result before they could finally leave the airport.

Hospitals

All hospitals are officially continuing with the Covid norms like wearing mask, but in practice, many healthcare institutes have eased the restrictions.

Several hospitals in Kolkata are not insisting patients and their relatives to wear the mask when they are entering the facility.

At doctors’ clinics too, the restrictions have been eased.

One woman from Kasba, who went to a south Kolkata clinic on Monday evening for doctor’s consultation, said most patients were not wearing mask while waiting for their turns.

“Few were wearing the mask and no one was asking them wear one. However, the doctor and other staff members were having masks in their faces,” said the woman.

“Since the Covid cases have gone down significantly, the restrictions have been eased. I am physically examining patients, which was not the case during the peak of Covid,” said Amitabha Saha, head of intensive care at AMRI Hospitals, Mukundapur. “However, I am requesting patients and their companions to wear masks during the consultation,” he said.

Most hospitals are not having any Covid patients admitted for over a month.

“There are no Covid patients and also none coming for Covid tests. Still, we have kept a two-bed unit for Covid patients. But we have not yet eased the Covid restrictions because there is no such guideline from the government,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.