Siliguri: Locals express concern over Covid surge

Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], April 13 (ANI): Amid the Covid-19 surge in the country, residents of West Bengal's Siliguri appealed to the state government to implement Covid protocol.
"It's a matter of concern that the number of covid cases is increasing day by day. although very few positive cases are in West Bengal. The state government has not issued any notification over the Covid protocols. We appeal to the government to issue the notification to avoid any pandemic situation", Biswajit Das, a local resident of Siliguri said.
Das further added that most of the people are not wearing masks in Siliguri, which is also a popular tourist transit hub.
"There is a high chance that the case progress to any place. We did not have many cases in our state. We do not need to panic but need to stay aware of the symptoms of Covid. Vaccination helped us to grow our confidence. We've to appeal to the government along with the private bodies to resume the vaccination process", said Dr Sankha Sen, secretary, of the Association of Physicians North Bengal and joint secretary of IMA Siliguri.
Dr PD Bhutia, MD, Internal Medicine and Member, ACP(USA) said, "The new variant of omicron has been named XBB 1.5 XQ1. Omicron will be there and Covid will be there. But they will keep changing the strains. So we should be careful and follow the Covid guidelines like wearing masks, maintaining a physical distance."
"Nobody wants to remember the Covid days, so we all should be prepared for the challenges", Dr Bhutia added.
Meanwhile, India reported 10,158 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. (ANI)