The Trinamul Congress lost its third sitting lawmaker to Covid-19, as Bankura district’s Indas MLA Gurupada Mete died on Thursday evening, the day the pandemic’s toll crossed 5,000 in Bengal over six months after the first death was reported in the state on March 23.
Fifty-nine Covid-19 deaths were reported in Bengal in 24 hours till Thursday 9am, taking the total toll to 5,017. However, since the 51-year-old MLA breathed his last in the evening, his demise would be accounted for in Friday’s toll.
Mete died at a Howrah hospital.
“Deeply saddened by the passing away of @AITCofficial Bankura District Coordinator and two-time MLA Gurupada Mete,” tweeted chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“His unparalleled devotion to serve the citizens of Bengal will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and closed ones (sic),” she added.
Mete was among 15-odd Trinamul MLAs out of around 30 sitting members of the Assembly who got infected so far.
Before him, the pathogen claimed the lives of Trinamul’s Egra MLA Samaresh Das and Falta MLA Tamonash Ghosh. CPM veteran Shyamal Chakraborty also died of Covid.
In Bengal, the virus so far also infected five state ministers, Suvendu Adhikari, Jyotipriya Mullick, Sujit Bose, Swapan Debnath and Soumen Mahapatra, and four parliamentarians, Locket Chatterjee, Sukanta Majumdar, Jayanta Roy and Shanta Chhetri.
On Thursday, Bengal reported 3,275 new cases and 2,996 recoveries, taking the total number of infections to over 2.6 lakh, of which nearly 2.29 are recoveries.
Among the deaths, the state government reported 4,269 or 85.1 per cent as deaths with comorbidity “present”.
ZOO TODAY: The Alipore zoo, shut since March 17 because of the pandemic, will open its gates to visitors on Friday. Visitors have to book tickets online (kolkatazoo.in) to enter the zoo. Wearing a mask is mandatory and visitors have to avoid touching barricades and other surfaces near or at an enclosure. Markers have been drawn at the entrance to follow distancing rules. Benches have alternate cross marks to demarcate seats. “The supply of drinking water from taps has been shut for now. Visitors should carry their own water bottles,” a zoo official said. Telegraph picture
Of the 59 deaths reported till Thursday 9am, 11 persons succumbed in Calcutta and 15 in North 24-Parganas.
Bengal’s overall mortality rate is 1.92, trailing behind the national rate of 1.56 per cent. However, the state’s recovery rate is now 87.87, ahead of the national rate at 83.53 per cent.
The state logged 43,854 tests, which took the total past 32.71 lakh, at 36,348 tests per million people. Fairly high testing numbers, coupled with the plateau in cases being detected, dragged the positive confirmation rate from 8.9 on August 23 to 7.96 per cent now.
The state reported 35.45 per cent occupancy of 12,715 Covid-19 beds in 92 hospitals.
Over 2.79 lakh telemedicine consultations have been provided, 4,072 of them in the past 24 hours.
