Covid-19: West Bengal to enforce complete lockdown twice a week

The state government in West Bengal today announced imposition of a complete lockdown in the entire state twice a week, beginning Thursday, in a bid to break the chain of the Covid-19 contagion.

The ongoing week will witness total lockdown on Thursday and Saturday while a similar action will be repeated on Wednesday next week, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Alapan Bandopadhyay told the media in Kolkata.

The remaining lockdown day for next week will be announced next Monday, our New Delhi correspondent reports quoting the official.

Alapan Bandopadhyay said "there is a perception of community transmission in some pockets."

The announcement of the twice-a-week state-wide lockdown came even as authorities extended the ongoing lockdown in the containment zones with high cases of the contagion till July 31.

West Bengal has already extended till July 31 restrictions on flights to Kolkata from six cities of India, including Delhi and Mumbai which are among the worst-hit areas.

The Covid-19 death toll in West Bengal reached 1,112 last night after 36 people succumbed to the disease, the highest so far in a single day, according to a bulletin released by the state health department.

Of these, Kolkata recorded the maximum of 15 deaths, followed by neighbouring North 24 Parganas nine, four in Hooghly, three in Howrah and South 24 Parganas, and on each in Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur.

At least 2,278 people, the highest in a single day, tested positive for coronavirus, taking the infection tally to 42,487, the bulletin said. The number of active cases in the state is 16,492.

Kolkata yesterday registered 662 fresh cases, North 24 Parganas (544), Howrah (191), South 24 Parganas (152), Hooghly (85), the bulletin said.