Bengal panel to ascertain cause of death before linking it to covid

nKOLKATA: The West Bengal government said on Monday it will consult an expert committee of doctors to take a call on the cause of death before linking any fatality to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), after allegations surfaced that it was suppressing information about the deadly infection.

“We have formed a committee of five doctors who will decide the actual cause of death. They are the experts, I am not. We do not want to create panic among people. Please trust the doctors,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.

Unlike other states, the government is against outright linking deaths of people with conditions such as diabetes and heartrelated ailments to Covid-19 even if they had the infection. According to experts, such conditions make the disease deadlier.

“People suffering from some chronic diseases are infected easily (by the Sars-cov-2 virus that causes Covid-19),” Banerjee said.

As a result of this policy, West Bengal’s official death toll stood at just three till Monday evening although there are reports of eight such deaths. According to the Union health ministry website, the state reported 80 cases.

The state government did not issue the daily Covid-19 bulletin on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. And for the first time, the bulletin uploaded on the health department website after 9pm on Monday did not mention the number of deaths. It was silent on the number of new cases and the total number of people who tested positive.