Centre vs. West Bengal: Provide us a detailed presentation on the coronavirus situation, IMCT tells WB govt

With the West Bengal government lowering the pitch, one of the Inter-Ministerial Central Teams visiting the state for an on-the-spot assessment of coronavirus on Wednesday asked Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha to arrange for a detailed presentation on the situation with details like the level of testing and availability of Personal Protection Equipment.

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In a letter to Sinha, the IMCT leader Additional Secretary Apurva Chandra also said the state administration should arrange field visits to hospitals, hotspots and market places with "relevant" locals officials and not with just a police officer who may have no clue about any measures taken to tackle COVID-19 apart from implementation of lockdown.

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Chandra's letter comes after the Centre and West Bengal government indulged in a high-pitched battle over the visit of two central teams to the state with the latter initially saying that it could not cooperate unless the criteria for selecting seven districts be made clear. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also questioned the Centre for keeping the state in the dark over sending the teams to the state.

After the state government sought to de-escalate the confrontation, Chandra, whose team landed in Kolkata on Monday, said that since the state government has now decided to extend "full cooperation", the Health Department should give them a detailed presentation.

The presentation should have emphasis on a variety of points, including special emphasis on points like whether the level of testing is adequate, whether the testing facilities available in the state are being used in full and whether the protocol adopted for testing and the level at which conduct of Covid-19 test is approved, the letter said.

The fresh demand came as Health Department did not give a scheduled presentation on Tuesday morning even as Sinha gave an overall briefing about the situation in the evening. Earlier, Sinha wrote a letter saying, "it is not a fact that central teams have not been provided any cooperation by West Bengal.”

Chandra said the presentation should also have special emphasis on availability of PPE and masks and its distribution to healthcare professionals in Covid-19 and non Covid-19 hospitals, availability of oxygen beds and supplies, ICU beds and ventilator as well as the number of surveillance teams and persons surveyed per day in hotspots and containment zones.

Chandra also said they would also like to know about the arrangements in place for identifying and quarantining people, supply of essential commodities and condition of relief camps as well as enforcement of lockdown procedure and social distancing.

After "full appreciation of the status of the preparedness" of the state government, Chandra said, the team would also like to visit some hospitals, quarantine centres, hotspots and market places and directly interact with health professionals, inmates and general public in Kolkata, Howrah, 24 North Parganas and East Midnapore.

"It is also requested that keeping in view the threat of exposure of Covid-19, necessary equipment like PPE etc may be arranged for IMCT prior to its visit to such places," the letter said.