KOLKATA: West Bengal reported its first confirmed cases of COVID-19’s Delta variant in its northern region. The Delta variant, which dominated the second wave of the pandemic in India, is considered to be a highly transmissible and deadlier version of the original variant. Of the 14 cases of Delta variant reported in North Bengal, five belonged to Darjeeling and three had the UK strain.
The news comes in after Sikkim, West Bengal’s neighboring state, reported over 100 cases of the Delta variant last week. 98 samples were sent to the Government of West Bengal for genome testing out of which, 97 were found to have the Delta variant.
After this development, the Government of West Bengal is now adopting strict measures at the Bengal-Sikkim border. Sandeep Sengupta, Dean, North Bengal Medical College, stressed the need for caution ahead as the new strain can take up more lives if preventative steps are not taken.
The government is being extra cautious even though the cases were actually reported a month ago but the confirmation of the presence of the Delta variant in them was only relayed on Thursday, July 29. The state government has directed the Matigara and Siliguri markets to be closed once a week. It has also directed the police to arrest those who are not following COVID-19 protocols.