Bengal: Women with young kids to be vaccinated on priority
Amid a warning that children might be infected during the possible third wave of coronavirus, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that priority would be given to inoculate women having children aged up to 12 years. She also said that the state would start inoculating at least four lakh people on an average daily from Thursday.
Decision will ensure that child doesn't contract infection from mother
"We are giving importance to the third wave. The second wave has increased the number of infections. We have decided to prioritize inoculating the mothers of children aged zero to 12 years old so that the child does not get the infection from the mother," Banerjee said. "At least two crore people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state till now," she added.
State-run and private hospitals to have 26,000 beds for women
"We have decided to start vaccinating at least four lakh people from Thursday," the Chief Minister said. The West Bengal government has decided to have at least 26,000 COVID-19 beds for women in state-run as well as private medical facilities.
Twenty percent of SNCU beds reserved for COVID-19 positive babies
Besides, around 10,000 general beds have been earmarked for mild and moderate pediatric cases in the age group of 90 days to 12 years and 20 percent of special newborn care unit (SNCU) beds for COVID-19 positive patients aged between 1 day and 90 days. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, 38 people succumbed to the coronavirus taking the toll to 17,475, a health department bulletin said.
WB has recorded over 14 lakh COVID-19 cases so far
On Wednesday, 1,925 fresh COVID-19 infection cases were registered in the state, pushing the COVID-19 tally to 14,87,363 cases. In the last 24 hours, 2,017 recoveries were registered in West Bengal, improving the discharge rate to 97.32 percent. The number of active cases now stands at 22,378. Altogether, 55,589 COVID-19 samples were tested in the state on Wednesday.
