WB shuts schools; restricts flights from Delhi, Mumbai

 WB shuts schools; restricts flights from Delhi, Mumbai

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Kolkata:

03.01.2022

As Covid cases rose nearly 12-fold in just seven days, the West Bengal government brought back stricter curbs on Sunday shutting all educational institutions from Monday and restricting flights from Delhi and Mumbai besides asking all offices to operate with a half their workforce.

At a press conference on Sunday afternoon, chief secretary H K Dwivedi announced that only essential services will be permitted to operate between 10pm and 5am in the state till January 15 and flights from the Mumbai and New Delhi, which have both reported a large numbers of infections will ply only twice a week in view of the rising number of Covid cases.

West Bengal, which witnessed a sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases with a near 12fold rise in the last seven days, on Sunday reported 6,153 new infections, 1,641 more than the previous day, with Kolkata accounting for 3,194 new cases, a health bulletin released by the state government said.

Dwivedi said starting January 5, flights from the two metropolises will be allowed only on Mondays and Fridays till a decision is taken reviewing the pandemic situation.

The state government had earlier announced that flights from the UK will not be allowed for the time being.

“As part of the restrictions, flights from these two cities will operate only twice a week — Mondays and Fridays,” he said.

PTI

Prepare plan to expand vaccination coverage in poll-bound states: Centre

New Delhi: Amid rising Omicron infected Covid-19 cases in the country, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya asked states to make all possible efforts to scale up health infrastructure so that India can combat the surge. Besides, states were also advised to prepare a weekly plan to expand vaccination coverage, particularly in the five poll-bound states of Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur.

In a high-level meeting with states on Sunday to review preparedness of health systems at the state level and progress in vaccination coverage, Mandaviya asked states to leave no stone unturned in ramping up infrastructure to manage a high surge so that India escapes unscathed from this episode of Covid-19, the health ministry said in a statement.

TNN