Kolkata: In a bid to tackle the recent spike in the number of Coronavirus cases, Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government on Wednesday announced to extend the bi-weekly lockdown in the state till the middle of September. As per the latest announcements, there would be complete state-wide lockdown on September 7, 11 and 12.


ALSO READ | UP Lockdown Again? Allahabad HC Pulls Up Govt Over Covid-19 Situation, Says 'Anything Less Than Lockdown Not Enough'

Addressing a press conference earlier today, the West Bengal Chief Minister also announced that flights operations would resume from six COVID-19 hotspots. Earlier, flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad were suspended from July 6 till till August 31 as measure to contain the spread of the Coronavirus infection.

However, CM Mamata today said that flight services to Kolkata from the six cities may resume from September 1 and can operate thrice.

Further in the lockdown announcements, the TMC chief also expressed that the state has no issues in restoring the local trains and metro rail services in and around Kolkata after maintaining physical distance between passengers.

The West Bengal government which was earlier planning to reopen schools on September 5 if the Covid-19 situation improved has put away the though and said that schools and colleges would continue to remain shut till September 20.

ALSO READ | JEE, NEET 2020 Exams: 'Let's Go To SC & Get Exams Postponed,' Mamata Urges States To Come Together During Opposition Meet

The amendments in the lockdown have come at the time when West Bengal has as many as 27,349 active cases of COVID-19. As per the latest updates, the total number of recovered Coronavirus patients are 1.14 lakh While about 2,909 COVID-19 infected people lost lives since outbreak of the deadly virus in the state.