One of Mamata Banerjee’s six brothers, Ashim Banerjee, succumbed to Covid-19-related complications on Saturday morning, after battling the infection for around a month.

At 62, he was younger than the chief minister by four years.

This personal tragedy for Mamata came on a day Bengal reported the 65th consecutive day of rise in the total of active Covid-19 cases amid the second wave, with 19,511 new infections and 144 deaths in 24 hours, ending at 9am.

With this, the the number of active cases in Bengal has risen to over 1.31 lakh.

The state also logged 19,211 recoveries, the most in a single day in this pandemic.

The 144 deaths recorded till 9am on Saturday included 30 from Calcutta and 35 from North 24-Parganas, the two worst-hit districts in the state. While Calcutta recorded 3,951 new infections on Saturday, North 24-Parganas reported 4,279.

In the only significantly positive indicator, the recovery rate rose for the 14th consecutive day, riding the steady rise in recoveries, to 86.98 per cent.

Ex-minister demise

Former Union minister of state for finance, Dr Debi Prasad Pal, in the era of Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao and finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh, passed away on Friday.

Born on November 1, 1927, he was 93.

A three-time parliamentarian who had also been a Supreme Court lawyer and judge of Calcutta High Court, Dr Pal had an illustrious career.

Among his many achievements, he was one of the founders of the Cancer Society of India. He also addressed seminars organised by Direct Taxes Professionals’ Association and various Chambers of Commerce.