Bengal: 3,000-plus Covid cases added for seventh straight day, total count almost 2 lakh

In 24 hours, a record 47,131 tests were conducted. The test positivity rate, however, declined to 8.23 per cent. At the start of the month, this figure was 8.58 per cent.

West Bengal on Saturday added 3,161 infections to its caseload as its total case count rose to 1,99,493. This was the seventh straight day of 3,000-plus cases, but despite that the recovery rate increased to 86.26 per cent as 3,042 people were declared recovered.

According to the health bulletin, in which figures are updated till 9 am, 59 deaths occurred in 24 hours, pushing up the toll to 3,887. Most of the deaths, 39, occurred in the South Bengal pandemic epicentre comprising Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly. These five districts also recorded 53.41 per cent of the new cases.

Paschim Medinipur, another South Bengal with a high active caseload (1,360), recorded seven fatalities, while in neighbouring Purba Medinipur the number of active cases was up marginally to 1,477. Paschim Bardhaman saw its active cases rise to 1,081.

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The active caseload is also high in Nadia district, which neighbours North 24 Parganas. At the end of last week, there were 797 patients in the district, but by Saturday it was up to 914 even though in the last 24 hours it came down by 26.

In North Bengal, active cases continued to inch upwards in Malda district, where the number of patients had gone down to 290 at the end of last week. On Saturday, active cases were up to 382. Darjeeling saw its number of patients increase to 694. The situation has vastly improved in Coochbehar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri, which last week had the most cases in the region. While both Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri registered declines in active cases, the load increased by seven in Coochbehar.

In 24 hours, a record 47,131 tests were conducted. The test positivity rate, however, declined to 8.23 per cent. At the start of the month, this figure was 8.58 per cent.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health said 2,491 people were still in government quarantine and 67,852 people were isolated at home. There are 1,714 people in safe homes set up by the government.