The number of coronavirus patients continued to increase in north Bengal on Sunday with Cooch Behar reporting 37 new cases and the Siliguri subdivision recording six cases.

In the region, Cooch Behar was a coronavirus-free district till Thursday. On Friday, 32 Covid-19 cases were detected in the district and on Sunday, the tally increased to 69.

“Thirty-seven more samples have been tested positive for Covid-19. All of them are migrants who have returned to Cooch Behar in the past few days. Many of them are in institutional quarantine and some in home quarantine. The administration has started collection of second swab samples and is tracing the primary contacts. We will announce containment zones in their respective areas,” said Pawan Kadyan, district magistrate, Cooch Behar.

According to administrative sources, of the 37 new patients, 19 are from Cooch Behar’s Sadar subdivision, five each from Mathabhanga and Dinhata and eight from Tufangunj subdivisions.

The district magistrate also informed that trial run of the TrueNat Lab at the Cooch Behar Medical College and Hospital had been conducted.

“We shall be able to test 20 to 30 samples on high priority basis at the lab every day. The lab is operational now. We are also setting up a second lab in Cooch Behar,” he added.