KOLKATA: Hinting at reimposition of strict Covid restrictions if the situation warrants, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said many people with coronavirus symptoms are coming from outside.
Banerjee, who was addressing a meeting at state secretariat Nabanna, asked officials to be on guard to prevent any spike in cases.
"Though the situation still remains under control, we should not lower our guards. If required we will reimpose restrictions once more. Not yet, but may be depending on turn of events in coming days," she added.
So far, there are six cases of Omicron-variant of coronavirus in the state.
All of them are male, a health official said.
Bengal's COVID-19 tally rose to 16,31,065 on Monday as 439 more people tested positive for the infection, while 10 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 19,726, a health bulletin said.
Kolkata reported the highest number of 204 new cases, while Hooghly and North 24 Parganas districts registered the maximum of three fresh fatalities each, it said.
The state now has 7,433 active cases, while 16,03,906 people have been cured of the disease so far, including 446 on Monday, the bulletin said, adding that the recovery rate stood at 98.33 per cent.
The administration has thus far tested over 2.12 crore samples for COVID-19, including 17,404 during the day.
An experts' committee on COVID-19 set up by the Goa government on Monday suggested some restrictions in the coastal state to curb the pandemic, including night curfew if the numbers rise.
The experts' committee is headed by acting Dean of Goa Medical College and Hospital Dr J P Tiwari.
"We have recommended restrictions be imposed. Since the emergence of omicron variant, it was recommended if the positivity rate crosses 3.5 per cent, then night curfew should be imposed," Dr Dhanesh Volvoikar, a member of the committee, told PTI.
"The committee has also recommended that all tourists checking into hotels should provide RT-PCR negative certificates. Checking at the state borders must be made more stringent," he said.
Meanwhile, the state's task force for COVID-19, headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, will meet on Wednesday to deliberate on the recommendations of the experts' committee, an official said.
Goa's COVID-19 tally reached 1,80,117 on Monday after 67 cases were detected, while the death toll remained unchanged at 3,519, an official said.
So far, 1,76,133 people have been discharged post recovery, including 51 during the day, leaving the state with an active tally of 465, he said.
With 1,678 samples being examined in the last 24 hours, the number of tests in Goa went up to 16,13,460, he added.
Goa's COVID-19 figures: Positive cases 1,80,117, new cases 67, death toll 3519 discharged 176133, active cases 465, samples tested till date 16,134,60.
Three new Omicron cases have been detected in Rajasthan, taking the number of people infected with the new variant of the coronavirus to 46, an official report said on Saturday.
The new cases were detected in Jaipur (2) and Udaipur (1), it said.
Of the 46 Omicron cases, 37 have recovered and the remaining nine are admitted in hospitals, the report said.
The health department in its latest report on COVID-19 said that 59 fresh cases of the coronavirus were reported in the state on Monday.
The highest number of 43 cases were reported from Jaipur while four cases each were reported from Ganganagar and Bikaner, three from Tonk, two from Ajmer, and one each from Sikar, Pratapgarh and Kota, according to the report.
Currently, 354 people are under treatment in the state for COVID-19, it said.
A total of 9,55,539 persons have tested positive for the coronavirus so far and of them, 8,963 have died and 946222 recovered.