Covid restrictions extended in Bengal till Aug 30

Kolkata, Aug 12 The West Bengal government on Thursday decided to extend the partial lockdown, although with some additional relaxations, till August 30.

Keeping in mind the convenience of the people, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the state government has decided to reduce the duration of the night curfew.

"Previously, the night curfew was from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. but now it will be imposed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. in the morning," she said.

Banerjee, however, clearly said that the government has no intention to run the local train until 50 per cent of the people get their first dose of vaccination.

Speaking at a press conference, she said: "The condition in the state is better than many other states in the country. The daily rate of positivity in Kerala and Maharashtra is alarming but we have a daily positivity rate of less than one per cent.

"Still, in this condition, we cannot take the risk of running local trains because that will increase the possibility of the infection".

"Currently, we have vaccinated more than 3 crore people and in the urban areas we have been successful in vaccinating nearly 75 per cent of the people but the situation in the rural areas is still not so good. Unless we can vaccinate atleast 50 per cent of the people, it is not possible for us to run the local trains. The third wave is imminent and we are not in a position to take the risk," the chief minister added.

Banerjee said that West Bengal has reported minimum wastage of vaccines.

On Wednesday, West Bengal reported 700 new cases, pushing the tally to 15,35,699. A total of 6 persons died of coronavirus in the state on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 18,258, a health department bulletin said.

"I know people are facing problems but your life is more important than anything else. We have allowed operations of buses, taxis, autos and e-rickshaws," she said.

Taking a dig at the central government, the chief minister said, "Presently, we can vaccinate only 3 to 4 lakh per day but we have an infrastructure where we can vaccinate 11 lakh people per day. The supply of vaccines by the central government is not adequate. We are making several requests but they are not paying any heed," she said.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor