Amid rising Covid cases, Bengal govt considers fresh shutdown of schools, colleges

Presiding over an administrative meeting with government officials, Banerjee asked state health secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam to report to her about the third wave of the pandemic.

If need be, schools and colleges could be shut from Jan 3, she said.

Nigam said fresh instances of Covid infection had gone up from 800 on Tuesday to 1000 on Wednesday, with the new cases mainly reported from Kolkata and its surrounding areas.

He said though the number of Covid-19 cases were up, the rate of hospitalisation was comparatively on the lower side.

State chief secretary HK Diwedi on Tuesday held a review meeting regarding theinfrastructure and logistics to tackle any eventuality if the pandemic situation worsens.

The chief minister also instructed the officers to identify containment zones in the city, where the infection was increasing.

She said the flights coming from high-risk foreign countries are also carrying infected people, who are spreading the virus.

Banerjee asked the city civic authorities to monitor the situation in every ward. If the situation warranted, micro-containment zones would be set up to contain the spread of the virus.

The government could also consider asking 50 percent of government employees and those in government-aided organisations to work from home..

She said a call on international flights as well as the local train services will be taken after reviewing the COVID-19 situation.