Kolkata logs 449 fresh cases in past 24 hours
Kolkata: Covid positive cases in Kolkata has gone upto 449 with 318 people testing positive within the jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
About 257 of the affected persons are asymptomatic while 61 are having symptoms. Apart from KMC, testing is held in a number of state government hospitals and private healthcare providers in the city.
As per data released by KMC, 194 of those who have tested positive have received both the jabs while 22 have received the first vaccine dose.
About 55 persons who have tested positive have not received any of the vaccine doses while 35 persons have been hospitalised in Kolkata.
Since the month of July positive cases in Kolkata have been less than 400.
"We have come across a section of people who have indulged in pandal hopping during Durga Puja flouting Covid protocols. Anticipating a rise in cases, we curtailed the Puja holidays of our health department's staff and opened up all testing facilities from Tuesday. Tests have gone up and so more positive cases are getting detected," Subrata Roy Chowdhury, Chief Municipal Health Officer, KMC said.
He added that the civic body has laid special emphasis on sanitizing the residences from where positive cases have been reported. "Contact tracing is also being done to ensure that members of the family who have come into contact with the affected person get themselves tested," he added.
The maximum cases positive have been reported from south Kolkata particularly the added areas. North and Central Kolkata have been found to be partially exempted. There are also negligible cases in the slums of the city.
Meanwhile, the state health department has directed various District Administrations and the civic bodies to hold camps and conduct random rapid antigen tests in those pockets where the Covid infection has gone up. The primary objective of the move is to segregate the infected patients and also the suspected ones by performing antigen tests. District health officials have been urged to use mobile vans to take the health teams to the affected areas.
State health department has already sent around 30,000 additional antigen kits to various districts where the infection has been higher. The civic authorities and the district health administrations will hold camps in the affected pockets where there has been a surge in the infection. Those who will be found positives will be segregated and then RT-PCR will be done on them. The health department has also asked the district officials to perform more vaccination in the rural areas. Arrangements would be made to carry out more vaccinations in the affected pockets. All the district health administrations have been asked to strengthen the surveillance in mostly the urban and the semi-urban areas ahead of Diwali, Chhath Puja.
According to a senior health official, various districts have been asked to send health professionals to the doorsteps where infections are reported in higher numbers. They can avail mobile vans to accelerate the process.
In the past few days, the number of Covid infected cases has gone up in the city and some other districts as well. The city hospitals have also been receiving more patients in the last couple of days. State health department and civic bodies are taking initiatives to make ready parallel infrastructure to accommodate the extra rush of Covid patients. Some safe homes and quarantine centres may be opened in the city and districts from next week.
