West Bengal mulls over closing schools, reducing local trains in wake of rising COVID cases

South 24 Parganas (West Bengal) [India], December 30 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a review meeting over the COVID situation in the state.
The administrative meeting took place at Sagar in the South 24 Parganas district.
Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Minister said, "COVID cases are rising across the state. There are omicron infections. A review of the situation is required."
She called the schools and colleges could be closed down keeping the surge in COVID cases in mind.
Banerjee asked officials to identify containment zones in Kolkata and other municipalities.
She also said that offices could be asked to function with work from home mode or with 50 per cent staff attendance if necessary.
Chief Minister said passengers coming from foreign countries are spreading COVID.
"A decision needs to be taken on the international flights coming to Kolkata. Local trains number should be reduced but it will not be completely stopped. As of now, we are not reducing the number of trains due to Ganga Sagar Mela."
She said a decision will be taken after receiving a detailed report from Health Secretary.
West Bengal reported five more cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus on Tuesday taking the total number of patients infected by the new variant in the state to 11.
The state reported 752 new COVID cases on Tuesday.