Amid reports of new corona infections in some medical facilities leading to partial shutting down of at least two more hospitals, including the Calcutta Medical College Hospital, in Kolkata the Central Government has dashed off yet another letter to the State Government asking it to impose lockdown restriction in proper manner.
The letter, third in row from the Union Home Ministry has ‘requested” the State to “take necessary action in order to ensure strict adherence to lockdown measures. District authorities and field agencies may accordingly be directed so as to prevent any such recurrence in future,” State officials said.
Pointing out deficiencies towards “strict adherence” of the lockdown measures the letter has said how there large assemblies of people were being allowed “in establishments dispensing essential commodities.”
The MHA has also referred to reports of how “shops dealing with non-essential commodities were allowed to remain open in Siliguri.” It has further pointed out how “the lockdown was violated in some mosques in Murshidabad district.”
While the latest letter sent by a Deputy Secretary to Bengal Chief Secretary and Director General of Police was summarily dismissed as a “routine exchange,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Saturday reacted sharply saying “you all know by mentioning the areas where the lockdown is allegedly not being implemented properly Delhi wants to pinpoint a particular group of population … But I want to tell them that we are fighting against a deadly virus and not a communal virus. I will not allow any communal politics here.”
The letter comes amid reports that the State Government was strictly implementing the wearing of masks, particularly in Kolkata. The citizens who were seen moving around without masks were either sent back home or forced to purchase masks from medical shops sources said.
Meanwhile, two medical facilities including the Gynaecology department of the Calcutta Medical College Hospital and the Charnock Hospital were closed down following report of corona infection among some patients, sources said. At least 50 doctors and nursing staff of the stated department have been sent to quarantine sources said.
Earlier two nursing homes at Park Circus and some departments of RG Kar Medical College and NRS College were closed down and their medical staff were sent to compulsory quarantine following reports of corona infections.
The latest infections took the total number of corona cases in Bengal to 122, sources said adding 7 patients had died due the disease --- with two deaths reported in last 24 hours. Health Department sources said there were “95 active corona cases in Bengal as of now.”