A review meeting of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) held in the Town Community Hall in Kurseong in Darjeeling today decided to form control rooms at different places under the GTA and work through them in the administration’s efforts to contain the spread of Covid.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, GTA chairman Anit Thapa said it was an administrative review meeting on the present Covid situation in the GTA area, mainly in the Kurseong region, which has seen a spike in the number of cases, of late.

“Representatives of the Kurseong Municipality and other concerned have been requested to work more efficiently to fight the present situation. We also emphasised on home isolation and Safe Homes centres (for treatment of asymptomatic Covid patients). Accordingly, they are going to form control rooms at different places in the GTA areas,” Mr Thapa said.

He added that keeping in mind the spike in Covid cases in the Hills, they will work on all Covid issues with the help of the control rooms. “With the help of these control rooms, we will create zones as per the ratio of Covid cases in a particular area,” he said.

On the lockdown that is in force in some GTA areas, Mr Thapa said that they will hold a meeting again after the completion of the ongoing lockdown and decide on the further course of action.

“We should also think of people hunger, and as such, we may take a middle path in the coming days,” he said, without elaborating.

According to him, all asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms will be encouraged to remain in home isolation and safe homes centres. “Only those with severe symptoms will be advised for proper hospitalization,” Mr Thapa said.

GTA principal secretary Surendra Gupta, Darjeeling SP Amarnath K, Darjeeling District Chief Medical Officer of Health Pralay Acharya, Darjeeling DM Ponnambalam S, other GTA and health officials, along with representatives of the Kurseong Municipality and the Covid Surveillance Committee attended today’s meeting.

On the other hand, one Covid patient of Dowhill in Kurseong died in a Covid hospital in Siliguri today, sources said. It is learnt that her swab reports yesterday showed positive and that she was later taken to the Covid hospital in Siliguri. “The deceased woman had urine infection problems too,” sources said.