State Government agencies tended to come out with conflicting assertions on the number of corona infections and resultant deaths in Bengal even as the political opposition called the State’s “tendency to hide facts” as “suicidal.”
While the designated expert committee of doctors on Thursday told in a media briefing that the total number of corona infections in the State had gone up to 53 with 16 new cases reported in the last 24 hours at a subsequent press conference State Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha provided “clarifications” capping the number of active Corona cases to 34.
Earlier at 4 pm the spokesperson of the expert committee of the Health Ministry said: “the total number people tested till date is 763 and the number of cases found positive is, 53 out which 3 have been cured.” He also said that “in the past 24 hours there have been 16 positive cases,” adding “the total number of patients succumbing to the disease is 7 … out of which 4 persons have expired in the past 24 hours.” A total number of three patients have been cured and discharged from the hospitals he said.
However two hours later at a subsequent media conference the Chief Secretary making “some clarifications,” — on the statement issued by the Health Department — said that 4 out of the 7 cases of claimed Corona related deaths “Co-morbidity — like kidney and other ailments — was present and it is not clear whether they died due to the viral attack.” He said that the pathological samples of all the patients had tested positive for Corona notwithstanding the fact that they had come to the hospital for treating other ailments.
The Chief Secretary also said the samples of 9 other patients had reported negative in second test and so they should be taken out of the total number 53 patients given by the Health Department experts.
“Out of the remaining cases three have died of confirmed Corona infection and another three have been released which brings the total number of active cases to 34,” Sinha said reminding “out of the total number of reported cases there are 20 patients from five families.” There was no point in providing inflated numbers “so that there is panic in the society,” he said.
Reacting strongly to the conflicting reports emanating from two agencies of the Government BJP State president Dilip Ghosh on Thursday accused the Government of suppressing facts.
“We have reports that the Government is hiding facts and in a bid to do so the Corona patients are being kept with other patients in general ward which is dangerous,” Ghosh said adding “not only the doctors and the health staff are being given substandard protection gear but also the hospitals are not testing the patients who are going with specific complaints.”
Elsewhere in a related development Bengal Government has decided to promote all the students till standard VIII to the next class considering the gravity of the situation emerging in the wake of Corona outbreak.
State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said the “Education Department was passing on instruction to the schools (state-run and state-aided) to fully enforce the ''no detention'' policy in all institutions for those studying up to the eighth standard, in view of the present situation.
The Government had earlier ordered the closure of all educational institutions from March 16 till further decisions.
The Minister also said that the Government was considering measures and mechanisms to ensure that the students of Class IX to XIII can be held can get some kind of instruction aided by technology.
“It may be through website, video conferencing or even we can take help of Doordarshan if possible to run the classes,” he said.
Meanwhile, residents of Bhangar in north-eastern fringes of Kolkata attacked and injured the police and health workers even as they went there to advise the people about the efficacy practicing hygiene and staying indoors.
At least three police persons were injured and a police vehicle was ëdamaged in the attack by the villagers of Bhangar which has always been in the news for wrong reasons.