KOLKATA: The West Bengal government will discuss with the Centre the issue of enforcing complete lockdown on certain days in September, after it disallowed states from imposing any shutdown outside containment zones under Unlock 4 without prior consultation, a senior official said on Sunday.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced last week that complete lockdown will be imposed across the state on September 7, 11 and 12, in bid to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Unlock 4 will come into effect across the country from September 1.
"We will discuss the matter with the central government and decide," a senior state government official said.
Containment zones will be notified on the websites of the respective district collectors and by the states/UTs, and information will also be shared with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as per Unlock 4 guidelines.
Since July 23, the West Bengal government has been implementing bi-weekly lockdown.
A complete shutdown in the state is next scheduled on Monday.
Meanwhile, the discharge rate of COVID-19 patients in West Bengal rose to 81.9 per cent after 3,308 patients recovered from the disease on Sunday, the health department said.
A total of 1,30,952 people have so far been cured of COVID-19 in the state.
West Bengal reported 3,019 fresh coronavirus cases on Sunday, pushing the tally to 1,59,785, while the death toll mounted to 3,176 with 50 more fatalities, the department said in a bulletin.
Kolkata accounted for 19 deaths, followed by neighbouring North 24 Parganas (7), Bankura (5) and Purba Medinipur (4), it said.
Of the 50 deaths, 42 were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental.
The fresh cases include 594 infections from North 24 Parganas and 428 from the metropolis, the department said.
The state now has 25,657 active cases.
Since Saturday, 43,436 samples were tested for COVID- 19, and till date, 18,45,396 such clinical examinations have been conducted, the bulletin added.