Total number of Covid-19 patients in Malda district rose to 26 with seven new positive coronavirus cases being recorded in the past 24 hours.

The neighbouring North Dinajpur district on Friday reported one new positive case, taking the total figure to six.

In all other districts of north Bengal, not a single positive case has been reported in the past seven days, including Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, which had Covid-19 patients earlier.

Sources said all the seven new coronavirus patients in Malda district had been shifted to the Covid hospital and were migrant workers who had returned home.

“One positive case each has been detected in Englishbazar and Harishchandrapur 2 blocks. The other five new patients were found in Kaliachak 1, Manikchak and Old Malda blocks,” said a health department official.

Eight of 15 blocks in Malda have Covid-19 patients now.

The new Covid-19 patient in North Dinajpur is a resident of the Itahar block. He was having breathing problems and was later detected with the new coronavirus. The health department is making arrangements to collect swab samples of his family members.

The Jalpaiguri district administration issued an order on Thursday, mentioning four wards of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation — 41, 42, 43 and 44 — ceased to be containment zones as no new cases had been reported. The four wards are in Jalpaiguri district.

Sushanta Roy, the officer on special duty deputed by the Bengal government for Covid-19 management in north Bengal, confirmed that the four SMC wards would no longer be containment zones.

In Siliguri, two suspected coronavirus patients, one a local resident and the other from a tea estate at Bagdogra, died at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital and Desun Hospital in the past 24 hours. Their samples have been sent for Covid-19 tests, sources said.

As of now, 20 suspected Covid-19 patients are under treatment at the Desun hospital.

The Covid-19 hospital (a private nursing home at Himachal Bihar, on the outskirts of Siliguri) has six patients.