Not following Covid-19 norms can be fatal, docs in poll-bound WB warn all including political leaders

By Joymala Bagchi
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 24 : With India experiencing a Covid-19 surge, the poll-bound West Bengal too is witnessing a changed scenario with an increase in fresh coronavirus cases across the state.
As per the bulletin, the state reported two Covid-19 deaths on March 23, taking the death toll of the state to 10,310.
Health experts are worried that amidst gigantic public meetings and roadshows, not following Covid-appropriate behaviour is bound to affect human lives.
The graph showed that the cases added in the last week are the highest since the beginning of the pandemic in India.
Experts view that hospitals that had vacant beds till January and February are filling up once again. All indicates towards a second wave of coronavirus infections and unless measures are taken right away, people will be faced with a difficult future in next few months.
Doctors even warned that "in fact, this time the curve is even steeper".
Dr Soumik Goswami, Faculty, Dept of endocrinology, NRS hospital said, "If we look at the scenario in the last two to three weeks, there has been an upswing in incidents of new coronavirus infections in India. The changes have started reflecting even in our state over the last ten days where cases are increasing."
"The problem has been aggravated because of election campaigning in the last few weeks. The Assembly election is at our doorstep. There have been big massive rallies where people are standing in close proximity and not covering their faces. What is even more unfortunate is that our political leaders are not asking their supporters to wear a mask and keep a distance as and when required," Dr Goswami said.
In the door-to-door campaigns, it has been observed that contestants among large gatherings are not covering their faces in order to make their faces recognisable to the electorate.
However, experts believe that the election will come and go but if Covid-appropriate behaviour is not followed genuinely, the death rate will escalate in the state.
On being asked about large gatherings, Dr Goswami replied, "The virus does not know about election nor it has a leader of its own so we have to tighten our belts and adopt all the precautions that were being observed last year to avoid the crescendo of the second wave."
For many days, health experts are constantly alerting people by giving messages that 'Coronavirus is very much there and hence Coivd-appropriate behaviour needs to be followed.'
Dr Arindam Biswas, an Internal Medicine specialist told ANI, "With the government's decision to open things in a graded manner, people started believing that the coronavirus has reduced and will not affect people anymore."
"People literally stopped wearing masks and with the advent of vaccines, they stopped maintaining distances and reduced use of sanitisers. All these negative impacts have led to a rise in COVID-19 cases once more," Dr. Biswas stated.
Dr Biswas added that as far as political leaders are concerned, the message that should be given by them to the public in rallies and roadshows is completely missing.
"Although health has never received this importance till the coronavirus came into our lives, as a health expert, I think it is the high time when political leaders must give the message to the public," the expert reiterates.
Experts also believe that the figures being presented in the bulletin are only what is reported, however, there are possible cases that are unreported.
India reported 47,262 new COVID-19 cases, 23,907 recoveries and 275 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry's health update on Wednesday.
According to the state's health ministry, West Bengal, active COVID-19 cases as of March 23 is 3,656, including an increase in 82 active cases on Tuesday.
The total number of infections in the state as of Tuesday is 5,81,403.
The total number of hospitals dedicated to treating COVID-19 is 46, out of which 35 are government hospitals and 11 are private hospitals.
Total cases reported so far is 1,17,34,058 with 1,12,05,160 recoveries. Active cases in the country are 3,68,457, while the national death toll reached 1,60,441.
A countrywide cumulative figure of vaccination given is 5,08,41,286.