Schools & colleges may be closed again: CM

Sagar Island: With a surge in cases and Omicron scare, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said schools and colleges in the state may close again if needed.

In the same breath, she urged people to maintain Covid protocols instead of panicking to ensure that the number of Covid cases does not go up when the new variant — Omicron — is rapidly increasing across the country.

While holding the administrative review meeting of South 24-Parganas here, the Chief Minister directed Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi to hold a review meeting on January 3 to assess the situation and also to undertake a thorough ward-wise survey in Kolkata as the increase in the number of Covid cases was mostly noticed in and around the city. She has also stressed to assess the need of reintroducing containment zones in Kolkata from January 3 to check the spike in numbers and work from home of 50 per cent manpower in every office.

"An increase in the number of Covid cases has been noticed. In such a situation, it has to be assessed whether schools and colleges can be run. If required, it has to be kept closed," Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister directed state Education Secretary Manish Jain to assess the situation to take a final decision whether schools and colleges can be kept open. Classes for students of class IX to XII and colleges reopened on November 16 after the same remained shut for nearly 20 months from March-end in 2020 when the first case of Covid was identified in Kolkata.

Stating that most of the cases of Omicron are taking place as flight operations are going on in full swing, she directed close monitoring of the passengers reaching Kolkata by air. "There is a need for proper screening of those entering Kolkata through the airport," Banerjee said.

State Health Secretary NS Nigam informed the Chief Minister that necessary steps have been taken for screening of air passengers and proper history of inflicted passengers are maintained besides taking subsequent steps, including contact tracing.

She has also hinted at reducing the number of services of suburban trains. But she directed the administration to go slow in this regard as the livelihood of many depends on the same and Gangasagar Mela is also going to be held from January 8. A final decision on suburban train services will be taken after a proper assessment of the situation. She also urged pilgrims to follow Covid norms while visiting Gangasagar Mela.

This comes when the Covid cases witnessed a jump to 752 fresh cases on Tuesday compared to that of 439 on Monday. At the same time, Omicron cases in Bengal went up to 11 with five new cases reported on Wednesday.

With a capacity to spread fast, the Omicron variant of Covid has hit 109 countries across the globe and the number of affected people in India went up to 781 resulting in a new directive issued to all states by the Health Ministry.

The Chief Minister has also added that the variant spreads rapidly. "But people should not panic. Instead, everyone must follow Covid norms," Banerjee said.

She also directed officers to ensure completion of second dose vaccination at the earliest. As the state government's outreach drive Duare Sarkar camps are going to be held from January 2, she directed that it should be held in open spaces as much as possible. Paper documents have to be sanitised before handing over to officials and wearing masks is a must at the camps.