Twice-a-week lockdown extended till August 31, says CM Mamata

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Tuesday that the lockdown in the 'broad-based' containment zones of the state with curbs on movement of individuals apart from that of essential services from 10 pm to 5 am every day will continue till August 31 as also the twice-a-week restrictions to check the spread of Coronavirus.

The next complete statewide lockdown is on Wednesday when nothing apart from essential services and sectors under the set relaxations will be allowed to operate. In the next month, the complete lockdown will be for seven days. In the first week, it will be imposed on August 5. The dates for the same from the second week onwards are August 8, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 31.

"We prefer complete lockdown on Saturdays and Sundays as on one hand, it will help to break the chain of the infection and at the same time livelihood of people will also not get adversely affected," Banerjee said adding that there will be complete lockdown on all the Sundays in August. No complete statewide lockdown has been announced on Bakri Eid, Raksha Bandhan and Independence Day.

The Chief Minister also urged people from the minority community to extend their cooperation by following the lockdown norms on the day of Bakri Eid in the wake of COVID-19 as they had earlier done during Eid-ul-Fitr.

At least 2,134 people tested positive on Tuesday and the pandemic claimed 38 lives in the past 24 hours. This comes when 2,105 people have been released from hospitals after recovery and 17,021 swab sample tests were conducted on Tuesday.

The administration and the police have also taken all preparations to ensure a strong lockdown on Wednesday. There will be naka-checking at strategic locations across the state and stringent action will be taken if anyone is found moving out of their houses without any valid reason.

A small programme of flag hoisting following physical distancing protocol will take place on Red Road on Independence Day. Banerjee urged people to maintain physical distance especially at market places besides using masks and gloves when they come out of their houses on days when there is no complete lockdown.

Banerjee on Monday had also announced the introduction of Covid Patient Management System (CPMS) from July 31 that will help in better management of critical pandemic patients who are also suffering from co-morbidities. She also informed about the 24x7 online monitoring of as many as 1,400 patients in different government and private hospitals by experts at Swasthya Bhawan.

Banerjee also urged the media to take steps in creating awareness about the multi-purpose COVID-19 helpline — 1800313444222 — so that it reaches the maximum number of people.

She added that people from the North-East and other bordering states come to Bengal for treatment as a robust health infrastructure has been developed here in the past nine years.