PANJIM: Softening his stand over need for a complete lockdown, the Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday said that stringent restrictions on movement of public is required to control the spread of COVID-19 infections and its related deaths in the State.
Addressing media persons, Rane said “it is not that easy to deal with the current situation. A third strain-triple mutant strain is detected in West Bengal, it is worrisome and we need to be careful and alert”.
“Complete lockdown or sealing of borders is practically not possible. And when I mean lockdown, it is not complete lockdown but stringent restrictions on the movements. Essential services like pharma, industrial sector can continue to function,” he added.
The minister explained that restrictions on movement do not mean a complete lockdown but we need to take measures as the medical system or infrastructure is overloaded. “I will hold meeting with the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and express my views. But CM is he final authority,” he said.
Rane said that medical teams are coming across several critical patients and if we are unable to control the situation at this point, we might lose several more lives per day in the next 10-15 days.
The Chief Minister, however, on several occasions has ruled out possibility of lockdown in the State at present. During the meeting with police officials, the Chief Minister has directed stricter enforcement of Section 144 and night curfew in the State.
