Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged all state and Central government agencies to work together as a family to check the spread of novel Coronavirus and to ensure that people do not get panicked unnecessarily.
Banerjee held a high-level meeting at Nabanna on Friday in which senior officials of the Railways, Airports Authorities of India (AAI), Coal India Limited were present besides the top brass of the concerned departments of the state government including Health, Education, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, Panchayats, Labour and the police were also present.
"It will be more beneficial if people are made aware about how to check the spread of the disease and help them take precautionary measures instead of creating panic," the Chief Minister said after the one-and-a-half-hour long meeting. She further added that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared it as a global health emergency and 97,000 people have tested positive across the globe. In Kolkata, 142811 people have gone through the screening process at different check posts including the airport. No one was found suffering from the disease. As many as 1,541 people, who have entered the city from 19 different countries including China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, were found not affected by COVID-19 during the screening process.
"We have received an advisory from the Centre and necessary steps have been taken. Isolation wards have been set up at different hospitals in both Kolkata and districts including RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, NRS Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital," Banerjee said, adding that detailed advisories have been sent to district authorities, Panchayats, municipalities and private hospitals, and have been told to extend all support to the masses.
Banerjee has also stressed upon the need to screen people, who have come from other countries and now moving around in India in domestic flights. Officials of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) have also been urged to extend support to tourists in Darjeeling. She further said: "Bengal is the gateway to the North-East and the state also shares international borders. Necessary steps are being taken to ensure screening facilities at entry points," she said adding that there is only one laboratory where tests for the disease is being undertaken. The state government will provide support and land if the Centre sets up laboratories in Bengal, she added. She would also write to the Centre to ensure that there is no shortage in the supply of medicines and equipment to the state.
The entry of foreign tourists in Sikkim has been restricted. When asked whether similar steps would also be taken in Bengal, she said: "It is a matter of the Ministry of External Affairs."