Experts say prolonged poll campaign helped COVID cases jump in rural West Bengal
Kolkata, May 16: Experts believe a prolonged election campaign helped spread the Covid pandemic in Bengals largely rural hinterland.
Since the announcement of elections on February 26, till Saturday the number of active cases in West Bengals districts other than Kolkata, increased 48-times.
Most medical professionals blame the mass gatherings at election rallies for the huge surge in the disease.
On February 26, when the Election Commission announced the poll dates, West Bengal's number of active Covid cases was just 3,343, while it stood at 1.32 lakh on Saturday, a near 40-fold increase.
However, the spread in districts, other than Kolkata, is far more. From a mere 2,183 active cases on February 26, the number of active cases on May 15 has risen to 1.06 lakh, a worrying 48-fold increase.
"There is no doubt that the reason behind this surge of Covid in rural Bengal is the prolonged election process.
The reason is nothing but political and only political," Dr Amitava Nandi, a senior expert in tropical diseases and formerly of the School of Tropical Medicine (STM), told PTI.
Elections were held from March 27 till April 29, in an unprecedented eight phases, prolonging the campaign period.
Many of the districts which saw pitched political battles with leaders extensively touring them such as Hooghly, Purba Bardhaman, Paschim and Purba Medinipur, Nadia, Darjeeling and Murshidabad reported near 100-fold rise in cases during the period.
Dr Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, community medicine specialist and vaccination supervisor of the Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General (ID&BG) Hospital blamed the "unscientific" holding of elections in eight phases and movement of people including paramilitary forces across state and district boundaries for the surge.
"If you cannot allow people who had gone to other states to work as migrant labourers to return home here without RT-PCR tests, how have you allowed large numbers of central forces and other people to travel remote areas without any such tests? This has definitely helped in the surge of cases," he said.
According to Dr Nandi, the new Bengal strain (B.1.618), the second mutant strain discovered in India, started spreading across the state because of movement of people during the elections.
"The administration was never prepared for this despite our warnings. Both the central and the state government were complacent as if they had won the battle against corona. They reduced the number of beds in the hospitals, never thought of increasing testing facilities.
Then they allowed people to move, migrate without proper tests and flout the safety protocols," said Dr Hiralal Konar of the Joint Platform of Doctors.
On Saturday, Howrah reported 1,276 new cases, South 24 Parganas (1,257), Hooghly (1,193), Nadia (1,038), Purba Medinipur (753), Paschim Bardhaman (977) and Darjeeling (662), according to the state health department's statistics.
The figures may be the tip of the iceberg, given the fact that people in rural areas have limited access to testing facilities.
North 24 Parganas, wedged between Kolkata and the international border with Bangladesh, has just three government RT-PCR testing centres, whereas it has 26,047 active cases as on Saturday, marginally fewer than the tally for the capital of West Bengal.
"Definitely there has been under-reporting. Primarily, people are not taking the tests and also there are not adequate tests taking place. And the current RT-PCR tests are sometimes unable to detect the contagion because the virus has genetically mutated," Dr Nandi said.
West Bengal at the moment has 115 testing laboratories in different parts of the state with a daily average of around 33,000 tests held daily, as per the state health bulletin.
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KSCA expresses disappointment over missing IPL playoffs, says it was ready to host matches in B’luru
Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has issued a clarification stating that it was fully prepared to host the IPL playoffs and final matches in Bengaluru but the fixtures were allotted to other venues.
In a media note, KSCA said it was disappointed with the decision. The association stated that its president, former India cricketer Venkatesh Prasad, had been in touch with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and had formally conveyed the association’s readiness and interest in hosting the matches at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
KSCA said the IPL matches held in Bengaluru this season were appreciated for smooth conduct, crowd management and overall experience for spectators. It said this reflected its ability to handle high-profile matches.
The association also stated that it had sent a detailed communication to the BCCI explaining its preparedness and the operational arrangements followed during the current IPL season. According to KSCA, these systems have been in place since the start of the Indian Premier League in 2008 and were followed consistently, including during previous playoff matches hosted in Bengaluru.
The clarification added that the communication sent to the BCCI was only meant to provide factual and operational details and to bring clarity on logistical and stakeholder-related requirements involved in hosting such matches.
KSCA said that although it had shown willingness and preparedness, the BCCI has decided to allocate the playoff matches to other venues. It added that the reasons for this decision have not been formally shared with the association, but it respects the authority of the board in taking such decisions.
The association further said it remains ready to host matches of national and international importance and will continue to cooperate with the BCCI, franchises, government authorities and other stakeholders for conducting cricket events.
The statement was issued by KSCA official spokesperson Vinay Mruthyunjaya, who also thanked the media and cricket fans for their continued support.
