By Saibal Gupta
Kolkata, Aug 30 (IANS): When the effect of the third wave is explicitly prominent in several states of the country, West Bengal in the last four weeks has recorded only 262 deaths at an average of 9.3 deaths per day in the state with 6 of the total 23 districts recording no deaths and 4 other districts reporting less than five deaths since the beginning of this month.
According to the data released by the West Bengal Health Department there are six districts including Alipurduar, Coochbehar, South Dinajpur, Birbhum, Purulia and Jhargram where no Covid deaths have been recorded in the last four weeks. In addition to this there are four other districts including Malda, North Dinajpur, Bankura and West Burdwan where the death count due to Covid is less than five.
According to the state health department bulletin Malda and North districts recorded only one death whereas there were two deaths in Bankura district and four deaths in West Burdwan district. East Burdwan that is beside the West Burdwan district also recorded only seven deaths in the last four weeks.
In addition to this Kalimpong -- a small district in North Bengal recorded 10 deaths and four districts in South Bengal including West and East Midnapore, Howrah and South 24 Parganas have only 12 deaths per district in the past 28 days. Murshidabad district recorded 13 deaths in the same period.
Interestingly enough the Southern part of the state has recorded more deaths than North Bengal. North 24 Parganas that falls in the southern tip of the state with 55 deaths in the last 28 days recorded the highest Covid death in the state. North 24 Parganas is closely followed by Nadia that recorded 40 deaths and Kolkata recorded 26 deaths in the same period. These three districts that have the highest death court in the state fall in the Southern part of the state. Hooghly, another district in South Bengal shows a high death court of 19 in this month.
The North-South divide so far as Covid deaths are concerned is also clearly visible. When the nine districts of North Bengal recorded 60 deaths with an average of 6.6 deaths per district, the rest of the 14 districts of South Bengal recorded 202 deaths during the same period with an average of 14.3 deaths per district. Darjeeling with 20 deaths and Jalpaiguri with 16 deaths in the last 28 days might cause concern for the health department.
Though Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly said that there has been 75 per cent to 80 per cent vaccination in the urban areas but surprisingly enough the highest deaths have been recorded from Kolkata and the urban areas of North 24 Parganas.
"There is an influx of outside people in the urban areas and that resulted in a high infection rate and as usual the death rate is also higher in these areas. We are taking ample measures to control the entry of people from outside states but it is impossible to plug 100 per cent. So, we are putting stress on vaccination so that the people get immune against the disease," a senior health department official said.