West Bengal govt not suppressing any fact related to COVID-19: Chief secy

Amid contradictions over

COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha on Saturday clarified that the state government was not hiding or suppressing any fact or figure in connection with the disease.

He asked media to highlight the steps taken by the Mamata Banerjee government for fighting the pandemic, instead of digging into the travel history of those infected.

A series of announcements over COVID-19 count earlier this week were promptly followed by denials from senior government officials.

A state government-appointed expert committee had on Thursday told a press conference that seven people died due to coronavirus infection in the state.

 

Hours later, Sinha claimed only three people had died of the disease and a probe was on to ascertain if the four other deaths could be attributed to COVID 19.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had the same day put up a different figure.

The state health department, following the fiasco, has stopped publishing its bulletin, leading to speculation that the government was trying to suppress information.

Sinha, however, said that the bulletin would be regularly updated now on.

"There are certain facts... If we are not releasing them, it does not mean that we are suppressing them. There are details we share because we think it should be in the public domain. Similarly, there are things that we do not share, because they do not serve public interest, Sinha said at a press meet here, when asked to specify how many samples have been tested so far for the coronavirus infection.

Everybody need not know everything, he said.

"For heaven's sake, don't think that there is any design behind not putting out the figures on the website. It is our duty to share information, but how much of it should be made public varies..." the chief secretary said.

Contending that media should refrain from tracking down the travel history of every COVID-19 patient, he said, "You should be more concerned about the measures taken by the government after a case is reported. Thats more important."

Incidentally, the BJP's West Bengal unit president, Dilip Ghosh, had alleged on Friday that the state government was trying to hide facts related to the spread of the disease.

Sinha said that no death due to COVID-19 was reported over the past 24 hours in the state, where 11 more have tested positive, taking the number of active cases to 49.

Of the 11, six were family members of the Kalimpong woman, who died due to the viral disease on March 30.

The remaining five were from other parts of the state, he said, adding that four persons who have recovered will be discharged from the Beliaghata ID Hospital here.

The chief secretary also said that colleagues and family members of a Kolkata Port Trust official, who tested positive for the disease, have been placed under quarantine.

"As soon as the person from Purba Medinipore tested positive at the Haldia Dock complex we put in isolation his family members and officials who came in contact with him, he said.