Close to 70 pc COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic: West Bengal Chief Secretary

West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha on Thursday said that in India close to 70 per cent COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic and doctors are also worried as to how to identify them.

"In India, close to 70 per cent coronavirus cases are asymptomatic. Doctors are also worried as to how to identify them. If the lockdown is lifted on May 4, then this will be a big challenge. We have not decided anything that will happen after May 3," said Sinha while addressing a press conference here.

Sinha said that the State government has always responded to the queries of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Union Home Ministry, and Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as and when these were forwarded to us.

"We have always responded to the queries from ICMR, Home Secretary, Ministry of Health or from any place. Tomorrow if I say that Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla has to come here physically to find out an answer from me, what is the logic of this," he asked.

"With the whole technology where we can talk to each other at five minutes' notice, we can talk to each other over the phone, they can see what is happening through satellite, direct and indirect indicators. Why should they come here and expect us to cooperate," Sinha further asked.

The Chief Secretary informed that the stand of the West Bengal government is that the State will never accept this Central team coming without prior consultations.

"The Central team told us that lockdown is effective where they went. Today they said that they got total cooperation and every protocol is being followed. We do not have any written thing formally," he said.

On Wednesday, the head of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) wrote a letter to the West Bengal Chief Secretary, seeking a detailed report on the efforts being made to control the coronavirus in the State.

Sinha said that 58 new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in the last 24 hours and there are 334 active cases in the State now. "Deaths due to COVID-19 stand at 15. 103 people have been discharged," he added.

Sinha said that a total of 953 samples were tested today. "So far 120 samples from Malda district have been tested and all of them have tested negative," he added.

Sinha informed that a total of 15,784 persons are under quarantine and 11,089 have completed their quarantine period. There are 66 COVID-19 dedicated hospitals in the State, 12 labs for testing, and 150 containment zones.

( With inputs from ANI )