Concerned over the rising number of COVID-19 cases in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said a "rigorous" lockdown will be enforced in all containment zones onward from 5pm on July 9.
The decision came on a day the state reported its highest single-day COVID-19 deaths with 25 patients succumbing to the disease, said the Bengal Health Department bulletin. The death toll in the state is now 807, it said.
The state government will also expand the areas under lockdown to stem the relentless spike in COVID-19 cases, said a senior official. The containment zones and buffer zones around them will be clubbed together and constitute a "broad-based" containment zone where total lockdown will be imposed from Thursday.
In this, broader containment zones (including the buffer areas) may be subjected to strict lockdown, and the following activities will be closed in this areas, which includes all offices including government and private, non-essential activities, congregations, transportation, marketing, industrial and trading activities.
A statement issued by Alapan Bandyopadhyay, Additional Chief Secretary and Chairman of Enforcement Task Force, said, “Residents of the containment zones may be exempted and prohibited from attending government and private offices, in fact, their ingress and egress may be strictly regulated.”
“To the extent practicable, local authorities will try to arrange home delivery to the residents staying inside the broad-based containment zones. You may now delineate your broad-based containment zones. In case of Kolkata, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Kolkata Police will have to do it in mutual consultation. In case of districts, DM may initiate similar exercise in consultation with respective CPs/SPs,” it added.
Trinamool supremo Banerjee had sent a letter to the Centre to stop domestic flights till July 31 to Kolkata from those states where the number of COVID-19 cases are high. The Kolkata Airport has already suspended flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Ahmedabad from Monday.
Banerjee alleged that in Bengal the number of cases has increased because of the Centre’s poor planning while announcing the lockdown.
The statement, however, did not mention how long the fresh spell of the shutdown will last. The current phase of lockdown, in force till July 31, was largely limited to containment zones alone.
(With inputs from PTI)
Comments
0 comment