Bengal on Tuesday reported 9,073 new infections — above 9,000 in a 24-hour period for the first time since June 1 last year — including 4,759 or over 52 per cent of the state’s total from Calcutta.
This is the highest-ever total reported by Calcutta in a 24-hour period in this pandemic since its outbreak. Prior to this, the highest-ever day’s total from Calcutta was 3,990 on May 3 last year during the second wave.
There were also 3,768 recoveries and 16 deaths, including five from Calcutta, reported on Tuesday, resulting in a rise by 5,289 in active cases to 25,475, above 25,000 again after June 7, 211 days ago.
Even a week ago, on December 28, the state’s total was 752, including 382 from Calcutta, and the total of active cases was 7,457.
The surge, apparent in the numbers since Wednesday, is mostly in and around Calcutta for now, and attributed by state government sources to the general disregard for Covid-19 safety among revellers around Christmas.
New infections reported on Tuesday indicate people who got infected between December 26 and 30. Bengal’s recovery rate slid further to 97.28 per cent, having dropped by over one percentage point from the 98.33 a week ago. It is now considerably lower now than the national rate of 98.13 per cent.
Calcutta and its immediate neighbourhood of North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 7,871 or 86.75 per cent of the new infections on Tuesday.
The state’s positive confirmation rate, which was 2.35 per cent even a week ago, is 18.96 per cent now. A positive confirmation rate of up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable in a pandemic situation such as this. At the peak of the second wave last year, it had climbed to 33 per cent.
Eighteen of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths. The state’s mortality rate is 1.19, while that of the nation is 1.33 per cent. Bengal now has more than 16.64 lakh Covid-19 cases, since the first was logged in March 2020. The total includes over 16.19 lakh recoveries and 19,810 deaths.
Omicron update
According to the Union health ministry data released on Tuesday morning, Bengal still has 20 omicron cases, including four recoveries, and is 11th among states with the highest number of such cases. The top three spots are Maharashtra, with 568, Delhi, with 382, and Kerala, with 185.