Medical Experts Warn People, Casual Attitude Is The Reason Behind The Spike In Covid Infections In West Bengal

Kolkata: The burgeoning COVID-19 infection in West Bengal, particularly in the city and its neighbourhood, is due to the casual attitude of the general people who have dumped the safety protocols emboldened by their being fully vaccinated, medical experts here said. The people, like in other states, are no longer wearing masks or maintaining social distancing required to check the contagion, they said. The current surge of coronavirus cases in Bengal might not be as dangerous as it was during its outbreak in 2020 but more and more people might be infected this year. The number of fatalities will not be as high as what the state witnessed before people were fully vaccinated, the doctors felt.

In a statement to the news agency PTI, Hiralal Konar, Joint Platform of Doctors said.

This was inevitable going by the casual approach of the common man towards the disease. The virus is very much here but the people are not using masks nor maintaining social distancing. There are congregations of people where you will see all flouting the safety norms. This time because majority of the population are vaccinated the virus may not have a big impact. People may fall ill to the disease, but there will be less deaths.

Konar’s words were echoed by the principal of state-run Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General (ID&BG) Hospital, Anima Halder who also expressed her concern over the increasing number of coronavirus patients getting admitted to the medical facility every day.

Though the situation is under control, it has deteriorated because of our don’t care attitude. At the moment I’m very concerned about the daily increasing number of patients at my hospital. We must have continued maintaining the protocol.

She urged the administration to be strict so that the protocol is followed religiously by all and the surge of the infection can be arrested.

Also Read: India’s New Covid Cases Cross The 10,000 Mark, Highest In 3-Months: Things To Know

West Bengal in the past one-and-half weeks has seen a sharp rise, almost 92 per cent, in the number of new cases of the contagion. While on June 4, West Bengal reported only 31 fresh cases, it reported 362 only 15 days later on June 19. The metropolis registered the maximum new cases followed by North and South 24 Parganas districts.

The positivity rate has also shot up from 0.28 per cent to 3.50 per cent (on June 19), the state health department said in its bulletin. The number of Covid-19 hospitalisations at private medical facilities has also gone up in the past three weeks, officials said.

An official of a private hospital on EM Bypass in the city said.

The number of COVID-19 patients has gone up since first week of June. Almost every day we are getting cases. This may go up if the current trend of rise in the cases.

According to the director of city-based ICMR-NICED, Shanta Dutta said that the contagion would have been more if people were not vaccinated.

The attitude of the people is as if Covid-19 has receded and even as if it was never there. Don’t understand how have they forgotten the condition during the two waves so easily and given up using masks and maintaining social distancing. Look at the way people are travelling in buses and metros and trains. Thankfully most of them are fully vaccinated or the situation could have gone beyond what we are seeing now.

The scenario is, however very different in the districts where almost nil cases are reported in a day, a state health department official said.

The districts are far far better placed. We hardly have any cases from there. The districts which are adjacent to Kolkata are reporting cases, but other than them we are getting either no cases or at the most two or three in a day.

The situation in rural Bengal is “nothing to worry about”, Sanjib Bandyopadhyay of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital said.

As of now, the situation in both East and West Burdwan districts as well as in Hooghly is nothing to be worried about. Things are better here.

Also Read: Mumbai Records 1000 Per Cent Rise In Daily COVID Cases In Less Than A Month

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.