Coronavirus Crisis: Mamata Banerjee To Hold All-Party Meeting Today

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called for an all-party meeting on Wednesday afternoon over the COVID-19 crisis in the state. The all-party meeting is scheduled to discuss the roadmap ahead in handling the coronavirus pandemic in the state.

West Bengal has seen a spike in the number of cases with 14,358 COVID-19 cases being recorded till date. The state has reported 580 deaths so far.

West Bengal has 77 hospitals dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients and has, in recent days, has ramped up Coronavirus testing. The state had run close to 4,20,000 tests for COVID-19 by Tuesday evening in 49 laboratories.

West Bengal may have to increase the number of ICU beds in COVID hospitals which stands currently at 948. There are close to 400 ventilators in COVID hospitals in the state and as Delhi and Mumbai have seen, West Bengal may find these inadequate and may need many more.

There are more than 1,21,000 people in home quarantine in West Bengal, while 1,78,394 people have been released from home isolation. More than 91,000 others have been released after treatment in government quarantine centres, while more than 8,800 COVID-19 patients are still in these facilities.

West Bengal has a fairly healthy recovery rate of 62.58% with a positivity rate of 3.50% of the samples tested.

Meanwhile, the state government has ordered the closure of all schools in the state till July 31.