The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the West Bengal government to step up its vigil ahead of new year festivities to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
A division bench of Justice Mousami Bhattacharya and Kaushik Chandra, while expressing concerns about the crowding during Christmas, said that the police have to ensure that there are no large gatherings and that barricades are put at places where there is large assembly of people. The Court directed the State's Chief Secretary and Home Secretary to supervise the arrangements and send a report to the State government. The High Court had intervened during Durga Puja and Kali Puja festival and directed that Puja pandals will be no entry zones.
West Bengal on Tuesday 1244 new cases of COVID-19 infections taking the total number of cases in the State to 5,49,715. The State recorded 30 deaths due to the contagious viral infection taking the number of cases to 9655. The discharge rate in the State has improved at 95.92% and the active cases in the State have declined to 12,788.
While there has been reduction in the number of daily infections the new year festivities are a matter of concern. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday had urged officials to remain on guard against a new strain of coronavirus which has surfaced in the United Kingdom and a few other European countries.
“A new strain of coronavirus has surfaced in the UK and it is being said that it is more potent. We should be prepared for this. Some countries including the UK and Italy have again started lockdown. We should be serious about it and shouldn’t let our guards down,” the Chief Minister had said on Monday.
