Mamata Banerjee blames 'outsiders' for spread of virus

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the people coming from outside for election purposes responsible for the rapid spread of Covid-19 in the state. Asking the people not to panic, the chief minister said that the government will take every possible step to put a check on the uncontrolled spread of the virus.

Speaking at a press conference in Malda district on Monday, "More than one lakh people have come from outside to do the campaign and they are sitting here for months. They should go back. I cannot send the people of my state outside but people should cooperate. If they go then it can help in controlling the disease. The Prime Minister and Home Minister are coming with people from outside and I don't know whether they have Covid or not.

"So, if I have already told you that the central forces who are coming to the state should have their RTPCR test done. They are more than 1.5 lakh and they are moving from one district to another. People who are coming from outside the state should behave responsibly," she added.

The chief minister again reiterated her demand to club the next three phases. "I had told the election commission officially to club the next three phases. There is provision and if the commission wanted, they could have done it. Due to the election the important people in the administration are engaged and they cannot work for Covid. This is creating a hindrance for the state. If the process of the election would have completed, we could have used this workforce for the control of the disease," the chief minister said.

Assuring the people that the state government will take every possible step to control the disease, the chief minister said, "The state government has increased 1000 beds in the last 4 days and we will increase 3500 beds in the next few days. All the hospitals in the government sector including ESI, a total of 100 is being prepared for Covid patients. We have also spoken to 58 private hospitals to ensure a greater number of Covid beds. We will use hotels as hospitals if needed".

Asking the people not to panic, she said, "We currently have 2000 serious patients among those who are infected, these people have comorbidities. In this fight vaccines, oxygen and Remdisivir are needed and there is a shortage of these. I have already written to the Prime Minister regarding this. I have requested him to provide us with these things immediately. We are trying to buy these from outside but it is not available in the market. But still, we are buying 1500 per day because only that much is available".

"The Election Commission has taken many houses for the election, so there are fewer safe homes. We have 11,000 beds with 200 safe homes. The control room is working daily, 400 ambulances are working. We have made 50% attendance in government departments. The rest will work from home. We have taken 58 hospitals and built 200 safe homes. We have taken super speciality and multispeciality hospitals for treatment in the districts where elections have already been held," she added.

Ruling out any possibility of lock-down and night curfew the chief minister said, "Night curfew and Lockdown is not the solution. It only adds to the woes to the people. The people should be given time so that they can get prepared. You impose a lockdown and that only increases the harassment of the common people. The state government is strongly against any kind of lockdown or night curfew".