Kolkata: Over 1,000 people were arrested in this city Wednesday for defying the total lockdown imposed to check the spread of coronavirus, police said. Of them, 721 were booked till 6.00pm for violating the restrictions under IPC section 188 that relates to disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant, a senior officer said. Another 352 persons were arrested for not wearing masks, he added. The official said that the police were determined to implement total lockdown under any circumstances.
At least 21 persons were held for spitting in the public. Besides, police also seized 33 vehicles for being on the roads without proper permissions, informed the police officer.
The West Bengal government has decided to impose complete lockdown twice a week till August 31 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, a number of health experts have questioned the way the lockdown is being implemented. They have said that the lockdown should be continuous and not twice or thrice in a week.
In a separate development the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said Wednesday it will conduct rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 suspects in all its boroughs from Thursday. This information was given by an official of the civic body’s health department.
KMC’s facilities are capable of conducting tests on at least 10 swab samples at one go and the results of the rapid antigen tests will be available within 30 minutes, said the official.
The tests will be conducted in all the 16 boroughs of KMC which will help around 8,000 inhabitants there to take the tests to be done under the supervision of the ward coordinators, the official said.
“We will start conducting the coronavirus tests in all boroughs. There are 10 wards in each borough and in every ward there will be 50 kits to conduct the random tests,” he said.
When contacted KMC administrator and in-charge of health, Atin Ghosh said the tests will help KMC understand the health conditions of the people. “If someone tests positive for the virus, necessary steps will be taken,” he said.
