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Updated: Apr 22, 2020 21:06 IST

A day after West Bengal government decided to extend full cooperation to two central teams for on-spot assessment of Covid-19 preparedness, the team leader of one of the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) – Apurva Chandra – wrote to the chief secretary of the state seeking a detailed presentation on testing facilities, protocols adopted by the state, arrangements for quarantining people, supply of essential commodities, enforcement of lockdown and condition of relief camps for migrant labourers.

The IMCT has also asked the state government to arrange for site visits to some of the hospitals, quarantine facilities, hotspots and market places during opening hours.

Chandra has asked that the health department of West Bengal, in its detailed presentation to IMCT, should give emphasis on whether the level of testing in state is adequate, whether available testing facilities are being used in full, protocol adopted for testing, availability of safety equipment to health professionals, availability of oxygen beds, ICU beds, oxygen supplies and ventilators, number of surveillance teams and the number of persons surveyed per day at the hotspots and containment zones, system of Covid care centres, safety measures taken for medical fraternity and system of approval of cause of declaration of death of Covid patients by a committee of doctors at state level.

Bengal was one of the first states to have complained of receiving faulty rapid testing kits from ICMR, which led to government announcing a two day suspension of its usage by the state. The state claims to have conducted over 7000 tests so far.

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The IMCT headed by Chandra is in West Bengal currently to assess situation in Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Paragnas and Midnapore districts.

After a standoff with centre over not informing the state before sending two IMCTs there, Mamata Banrejee had on Tuesday agreed to extend them full cooperation.

Chandra has said that IMCT would also like to know from state government difficulties faced by it in implementation of lockdown orders, availability of testing kits and support required from central government.

The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19

The state reported 32 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total number of active cases to 300.