North Bengal saw a spike in novel coronavirus cases on Wednesday with 38 new patients from five districts.

In Cooch Behar, all new 16 patients were migrant workers who came back from Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to their homes in Dinhata, Tufanganj and Cooch Behar Sadar subdivisions, said a district official. This apart, 10 new cases were reported from Malda, three persons tested positive in Alipurduar, two in North Dinajpur and seven in South Dinajpur.

With these 16 new cases, there have been 132 infections in Cooch Behar alone — mostly from Dinhata. Around 30 patients were discharged after recovery.

Darjeeling MP Raju Bista visited the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday for a medical check-up. The MP, who came here from Delhi on May 28 and has been in self-quarantine, spoke to the hospital superintendent and health officials on the Covid-19 situation. “The state should inspect all quarantine centres and check if social distancing is maintained there. If we do not take care of quarantine centres properly, there’s no point of keeping people there,” said the BJP MP.

Sikkim’s second case

One Covid-19 case was reported from Sikkim, the second such in the Himalayan state that had been virtually Covid-19-free till recently. The asymptomatic patient, a man in his mid-50s who was at a quarantine facility near Rangpo town, tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.

He had returned from Delhi on May 25 and was quarantined with his daughter and nephew, who tested negative.

“The patient has been shifted to the New STNM Hospital, Sikkim’s only dedicated Covid-19 hospital. Though his two primary contacts tested negative, we are in process of tracing his secondary contacts to ensure there is no community spread of the disease in Sikkim,” said a health official.

This is the second case of Covid-19 in Sikkim on the heels of the one on May 23 when a 25-year-old man, who returned from Delhi and was quarantined at an institutional facility in South Sikkim, was found infected. The youth, officials said, is recovering at the New STNM Hospital.