1. Bengal COVID-19 Toll Up By 2
Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the number of deaths from COVID-19 in Bengal had increased to five from three and eight more positive cases had been reported in the past 24 hours.
The total number of coronavirus positive cases in the state is 69 now. “I had said the number of deaths (from the infection) was three. After an audit, the number has gone up to five. The experts have given their opinion,” said the chief minister.
Mamata didn’t mention when and where the deaths had occurred. But sources at Nabanna said the few deaths from suspected Covid-19 had been reported in the past two-three days and reports of all such patients had been sent to an expert committee set up by the state government to audit the reason of the deaths.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. CM Comes Up With Film On City's Seniors
How does Kolkata come in aid of senior citizens living in isolation during lockdown?
That’s the logline of the short film titled ‘Jhhar Themey Jabe Ekdin’ conceived by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and will be directed by Arindam Sil. This is perhaps the first time that any chief minister of India has come up with the concept for a film to create awareness about COVID-19.
The initiative is expected to raise approximately Rs 50 lakh for Tollywood’s technicians and will be supported by president of Federation Of Cine Technicians & Workers Of Eastern India (FCTWEI) Swarup Biswas. Shooting will begin on Wednesday. Paran Bandopadhyay, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Abir Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Koel Mallick, Mimi Chakraborty, Nusrat Jahan, Subhashree Ganguly and Rukmini Maitra will shoot their portions separately. “I will be happy if I can help in creating a fund,” said Prosenjit.
(Source: The Times Of India)
3. Bid to Mislead People on Rations: CM
Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday warned “some” from political parties against trying to politicise Bengal’s fight against Covid19 and mislead the people over rations being given out by her government.
The chief minister said her government had been going out of its way to minimise the damage from the pandemic while keeping people’s lives as unaffected as possible during the lockdown. Yet “some” remained unable to rise above political opportunism even now, she said.
She said “one or two” political parties had allegedly been trying to mislead the people and seek credit for the distribution of free food grains for six months by her government.
“These people are telling the beneficiaries that more and more rice, more things will be given, the ‘party’ will give. Some are telling the ration dealers to hand the stuff over to them for distribution. … they are misleading the people over the rations… this will not go on,” Mamata said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Bengal Favours Quarantine of Hotspots
Unlike some states, the Bengal government is not in favour of extending the lockdown beyond 15 April across the state and has instead identified seven hotspots that may be put under quarantine in the post-lockdown days to contain the novel coronavirus from spreading.
The area around Command Hospital in Alipore and 11 other localities in Kolkata, parts of Howrah, Nadia’s Tehatta, Egra in East Midnapore, Kalimpong in Darjeeling and Magrahat in South 24 Parganas are among the hotspots the government is keeping a close watch on. It will take a call on keeping these areas under extended lockdown after 10 April.
Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee, who now heads the government’s Covid-19 response team, also offered some simple but effective tips on tackling the virus during a video-conference with chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday.
(Source: The Times Of India)
5. Pandemic Fight a Social Battle: State Govt Panel
The Bengal government has taken global professionals on board to tackle the novel coronavirus pandemic, with an aim to frame a 360-degree management strategy of primary reporting from the grassroots, identifying hotspots, running random tests, and finally treatment of patients.
“The entire process involves a whole lot of inputs from health workers at the grassroots to medical experts and from individuals to public policy-makers. The chief minister has taken a timely step to adopt a comprehensive management strategy,” said committee convenor Abhijit Chowdhury, hepatology head at SSKM Hospital.
(Source: The Times Of India)
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