West Bengal replaces health secretary amid row over COVID-19 data

Kolkata: The West Bengal government has transferred Health Secretary Vivek Kumar to the Environment Department and named Narayan Swaroop Nigam as his replacement, officials said on Tuesday.

Kumar's transfer to the Environment Department as secretary comes days after a row over the state's COVID-19 data, said official sources.

Kumar was appointed as health secretary in December last year, replacing Sanghamitra Ghosh.

Nigam, who was the Transport Secretary, has been appointed as Kumar's replacement, as per a notification dated May 11.

Prabhat Kumar Mishra was named as the principal secretary of the Transport Department with additional charge of the Water Resources Investigation and Development Department and Director of the Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation.

West Bengal has so far reported 118 deaths due to coronavirus infection.

The state has attributed 72 other deaths to comorbidities -- cases where COVID-19 was incidental.

The state has reported 1,939 COVID-19 cases till Monday and of them, 1,374 are active.