The health department is prepared in case of a spike in Covid-19 cases during and after the festivals, according to the minister of state of health and family welfare, Chandrima Bhattacharya.

Ms Bhattacharya was in Siliguri today to spearhead a protest march against the alleged gang-rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh.

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“We are ready to tackle the pandemic situation,” she said, while talking about the possibility of a surge in the cases during the festivals.

“The infrastructure to deal with Covid-19 cases has been significantly developed across the state. There is a series of festivals such as Durga Puja, Diwali, Kali Puja, Jagadhatri Puja, Chhath, and Christmas, and people have been asked to adhere strictly to the health protocols. Guidelines have also been set for the Durga Puja organisers. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has announced yesterday that within a few days, 600 beds of intensive care units and high dependency units in designated and state-run hospitals will be increased,” Ms Bhattacharya said.

Public health experts have apprehended that there could be a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases during and after Durga Puja. Leave for doctors and nurses have been cancelled during the festive season, while they will be given compensatory leaves later, Ms Bhattacharya said.

Hathras protest

Ms Bhattacharya, who is also the president of the Trinamul Women Congress, led a rally in Siliguri to condemn the alleged gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman from a socially oppressed community in Hathras.

Condemning the gruesome incident in the BJP0ruled state, she said it was unimaginable that the victim’s family was not allowed to even take her body home or perform the rituals themselves.

“We strongly condemn the incident. Such brutal incidents are occurring in Yogi (UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath) raj. Yogi is asleep, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is asleep. Modi did not mince a word,” she said.

Women activists set a pyre, which was made symbolically, on fire at Safdar Hasmi Chowk after the march.

State tourism minister Gautam Deb, Darjeeling district party president of the women wing Susmita Sengupta, and district party president Ranjan Sarkar were among the leaders who participated in the rally, which kicked off from the Mahatma Gandhi More.