West Bengal on Saturday registered a record 14,281 COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, as allegations emerged of political gatherings violating safety norms laid out by the Election Commission.
The State, where polling for the last two phases is scheduled next week, recorded 59 deaths in the past 24 hours. Kolkata, which will go to the polls in the last two phases, recorded 20 deaths and 2,970 infections in the same period.
The Trinamool Congress alleged that the guidelines spelt out by the Election Commission were violated at public meetings attended by BJP leaders Dilip Ghosh and actor Mithun Chakraborty where the crowd was more than the permissible limit of 500. Trinamool leader Saugata Roy said the party will lodge a complaint with the ECI. There was a scuffle between the supporters of the two parties at the Beleghata and the Belgachia Kashipur Assembly seats in the northern parts of the city. Trinamool chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also addressed a workers’ meeting at the Gitanjali auditorium in Bolpur in Birbhum district.
The State government has taken certain steps to control the spurt in cases. It has made RT-PCR tests and COVID-19 reports necessary for flight passengers coming from Delhi, U.P., M.P., Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana are already in the list. This guideline will be effective from 12 noon Monday.
Though officials have ruled out any shortage of medical oxygen, the health infrastructure remains under stress. Patients were seen collecting their own swab samples at a State-run health facility at Jangipur in Murshidabad district. Several private diagnostic facilities have complained about paucity of testing kits.
The Kolkata Metro has reduced its services, both on weekdays and the weekends.
