Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the Covid-19 situation in Bengal was under control with daily infections in the range of 600-800 and 3.32 crore people had been inoculated (at least with one dose) in the state though the Centre hadn’t made available adequate quantum of vaccines.
Bengal on Thursday reported 747 infections, 773 recoveries and 10 deaths. While Calcutta logged 77 infections, North 24-Parganas recorded 88.
The total of active cases fell by 36 to 10,127.
“The daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was around 1.5 per cent now (1.64 per cent on Thursday). We have not been getting adequate vaccines, in spite of that, we have been testing so much daily (around 46,000 on Thursday), getting only 600-800 cases daily,” said the chief minister, adding that the recovery rate was 98.15 per cent currently.
Mamata said there had been a total of over 3.32 crore vaccine doses administered in Bengal. The state has managed to vaccinate over 33.2 per cent of its population (with at least one dose) against the novel coronavirus, which is substantially higher than the national average of 30.3.
“Of them, the first dose has been given to 2.39 crore (23.9 per cent of the population). Both doses to 0.92 crore (9.2 per cent of the population),” she said.
Despite the alleged lack of cooperation and step-motherly treatment towards Bengal by the Centre, the state is third on the list of most people vaccinated after Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Mamata reiterated that the state had the capacity of vaccinating 11 lakh people daily, but had been getting doses enough for 3-4 lakh.
“We have the minimal wastage, at seven per cent. Our vaccination (infrastructure and pace) is the best in the country,” she said.
Bengal’s 9.2 per cent – of fully vaccinated population – is much higher than the national average of 8.7.
Mamata said since there were fears of a third wave in September, the administration was still trying to have some restrictions in place. She said the state government was trying to increase vaccination in rural areas.
“Especially, the two 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, East Burdwan, Nadia,” added Mamata.
With Calcutta logging 77 infections and North 24-Parganas 88, Thursday was the seventh consecutive day again of not a single Bengal district reporting a three-digit figure of new infections.
Eighteen Bengal districts reported a two-digit figure of new infections detected. North Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Purulia and West Burdwan logged single-digit figures.
Fifteen Bengal districts reported zero deaths on Thursday, while Jalpaiguri, Hooghly, South 24-Parganas and Calcutta reported one each.
The state’s mortality rate is 1.19 now, while that of the nation is 1.34 per cent.
Bengal now has over 15.36 lakh Covid-19 cases since the first was reported in March last year. The total includes more than 15.08 lakh recoveries and 18,268 deaths.
