Kolkata, Oct 11 : The spirit of Bengal's biggest festival Durga Puja is likely to suffer this year as West Bengal recorded an alarming caseload of Covid-19 spikes in the last 24 hours.
According to the medical bulletin released by the state health department on Saturday, Bengal reported as many as 3,591 single-day active infections - the highest till date, taking the total figure to 2,87,603.
The total active case count increased to 29,793 and as many as 62 deaths were reported from across the state in the last 24 hours due to Covid-19 infections.
The state's Covid-19 recovery rate also declined to 87.9 per cent with South Bengal being the worst-hit region.
Over 60 per cent of the cases and 40 deaths were recorded only from Kolkata, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly district.
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) chief Adhir Chowdhury, who is also the party's leader in the Lok Sabha, on Saturday hit the streets in Kolkata protesting the poor health infrastructure in Bengal.
The rally started from Bidhan Bhavan, the party headquarters in Entally, to Esplanade where Chowdhury had pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic was worsening in Bengal.
"The state government has no idea what will happen if Covid cases increase after Durga Puja.
They have no control over the situation. They are not worried about how hospital beds will be increased," the state Congress chief said, alleging that the state administration was under-reporting deaths due to coronavirus in Bengal.
Meanwhile, an organisation called Joint Platform of Doctors already sent a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, dated October 7, expressing apprehensions about Covid-19 spikes after Durga Puja.
They also attached the three-day rolling average of daily Covid-19 infections in Kolkata along with the letter.
In the letter, they mentioned the reference of increased Covid cases after Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi in Kerala and Maharashtra respectively.
They mentioned that the recent surge in Bengal occurred due to the festive season, especially after Mahalaya and Vishwakarma Puja.
In Spain too, a steep rise in cases was reported in the recent past following International Women's Day celebrations and a football match.
Wary of a surge, the doctors' body urged the CM to implement strict measures to prevent public gatherings during Durga Puja.
--IANS
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Source: IANS
