The number of COVID-19 cases in West Bengal has witnessed a sharp climb, but doctors are telling people not to panic and instead get booster doses of the vaccine.
In a reminder of the early months of 2021, several people have announced on their Facebook timelines that they have tested positive. But there is no panic, at least at the moment, unlike the case back then.
On Tuesday, the State recorded 954 fresh cases — up from 551 on Monday and 493 on Sunday. Kolkata usually accounts for more than half of the daily figures.
“I would say COVID has become an endemic. For the next few years, everyone on this planet will get multiple attacks of COVID,” said Dr. Rahul Jain, an internal medicine specialist who saw over 4,000 COVID-19 patients during the first and second waves.
Dr. Jain, who is attached to the Belle Vue Clinic, has four patients in his care at the moment, and he doesn’t expect the number of admissions to rise dramatically. “Most patients will not require hospitalisation. The disease will gradually become like common cold,” he said.
“It is important for people, especially the elderly and those with comorbidities, to take the booster doses on time. Most people who are getting moderate to severe COVID now are those who either failed to take the vaccines or have not completed the three recommended doses.”
Well-known ENT specialist Arjun Dasgupta too strongly recommended the booster dose, saying the sudden spurt in cases corresponded with the end of the six months that it usually takes for immunity to wane after an infection or vaccination. “What we need is free universal vaccination,” Dr. Dasgupta said.
Regression therapist Sabari Chakraborty, who relocated earlier this month along with her husband Indranil to native Kolkata after three decades in Mumbai, had managed to evade the virus during the first two waves, but was infected soon after her arrival in Kolkata by road. “I hadn’t even stepped out anywhere but I still got it, possibly from the people who came to unpack. My husband is pretty much out of it, but I still feel tired. Both of us didn’t have fever, though he had a bad cough,” said Ms. Chakraborty.
