West Bengal: 50% Attendance At Govt Premises, Weekly Sanitization; Fresh Covid Guidelines Amid Highest Single-Day Spike

The order states that all establishments under the state government should not have more than 50 percent people in attendance on any given day. Read on.

Representative Photo

Kolkata: While undergoing the most extensive election and campaign phases of this poll season, West Bengal on Saturday reported its highest single-day spike of 7,713 Covid-19 cases which took the total caseload to 6,51,508.

To tackle the Covid situation, the state government has issued some guidelines to increase emphasis on the needful implementation of preventive measures among people.

The order states that all establishments under the state government should not have more than 50 percent people in attendance on any given day. Private companies have also been advised to re-bring back work-from-home/rotational days/ shifts as far as possible.

Here are the guidelines issued by the Mamata Banerjee government:

• All public and private offices, business places, industrial and commercial complexes to have complete sanitisation of entire work place at least once a week.
• Regulating authorities to ensure effective enforcement of wearing masks, social distancing and other Covid-19 appropriate protocol in all public places, transport, etc.
• Maintaining Covid protocol such as wearing masks, sanitisation and physical distancing in crowded places like markets, weekly bazaars, public and private transport.
• All bazars to once again undergo sanitisation in association with the chamber of commerce/trade associations as was done in 2020.
• Staggering of work/business works in shops, markets, industrial and commercial establishments to be ensured.
• All persons in charge of workplaces need to ensure the wearing of masks and adequate physical distancing among workers and other staff attending the offices and other work places including shops and establishments, factories, etc.
• The attendance in any office/ establishment under the State Government shall not exceed 50 percent on any given day as stipulated under Finance Department’s memo No. 2272-F(P) dt.21.7.2020. The appropriate authority may decide whether the employees will attend office on a rotational basis.
• The private establishments are advised to re-introduce work-from-home (WFH)/rotational days/hours/shifts strictly, as far as possible.
• Stadia and swimming pools advised to strictly adhere to the guidelines and SOPs circulated earlier.
• Provisions for thermal scanning, hand wash, or sanitizer to be made at all entry and exit points of Shopping Malls, Multiplexes, Theatres, restaurants, eateries, etc. in strict adherence to the SOPs circulated earlier.

As per the guidelines, any violation of the measures will be dealt with strictly and as per provisions under the existing law.

The state’s health bulletin informed that its death toll has risen to 10,540 after 34 new fatalities were reported on Saturday. 3,426 patients recovered from the infection in 24 hours. Capital city Kolkata has also registered a high single-day jump of 1,998 new cases and 10 deaths.