As many as 26 doctors of SSKM Medical College and Hospital have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infected at the health hub to more than 50 in three days.
Several physicians from various departments, including cardiology, CTVS, ENT and gynaecology, have been infected.
In an emergency meeting, the SSKM authorities have decided to reduce the isolation period to five days.
Twenty-one doctors and health workers of Dr R Ahmed Dental College and Hospital, Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College and Hospital, and RG Kar Medical College and Hospital have also been affected.
The hostels of these hospitals have been vacated to prevent others from being infected. At RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, arrangements have been made to keep the health workers in isolation in the hostel. As a result, there is a shortage of doctors in hospitals to treat Covid patients.
The rate at which the infection is spreading, it is feared that more than 100 doctors will get affected at Sambhu Nath Pandit Hospital and Police Hospital.
Doctors raised questions why the government is not more tactical and why the daily data is not being reviewed. They also questioned why the infrastructure has not been further improved.
With 2,917 new cases, the positivity rate in West Bengal has increased by 19.59 per cent. In Kolkata alone, 2,601 people were infected and four patients have died. The positivity rate in Kolkata is about 34 per cent. In North 24 Parganas, 1,057 got affected and four lost their lives. In Howrah, 75 people were infected.
The Kolkata mayor has already reintroduced containment zones to handle the situation in the city. Apart from that, 25 micro containment zones have been declared in Kolkata. If four to five persons of a household are infected, it is declared as a micro containment zone.