West Bengal has made 14-day institutional quarantine mandatory for people returning from five states having the highest number of Coronavirus cases.
Bengal has identified Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as high burden states and returnees from these five states will be compulsorily put under 14-day institutional quarantine.
People coming from others states are to remain in home isolation under state supervision.
Meanwhile, several Shramik Special trains reached Bengal from other states on Thursday including Maharashtra and Gujarat, two of the most affected states with the COVID-19 disease, officials said.
Medical screening facilities for passengers arriving were set up at all the stations where the special trains had stoppages or at the terminal stations, state officials said.
The West Bengal government has set up quarantine facilities for passengers coming from the states which have been affected the most by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the state Fire and Emergency Services Minister Sujit Bose tested positive for the novel Coronavirus on Friday.
“I am home-quarantine along with my wife and domestic help who have also tested positive for the COVID-19. We all three have been put under home-quarantine,” Bose told IANS on phone.
An Trinamool Congress MLA Bidhannagar Assembly constituency, Bose was also involved in relief distribution activities in various slum areas during the ongoing COVID crisis in the state.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in West Bengal climbed to 4,536 on Friday, up by 344 cases recorded on Thursday. The total number of active cases are 2,573 currently with six deaths reported in last 24 hours, the figures as per the state health department bulletin released on Thursday evening.