KOLKATA: West Bengal reported 17 more COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 311 while the state also registered its highest single-day spike in cases with 435 new patients, pushing the virus count to 7,738, a health department bulletin said on Saturday.
The number of active cases currently stands at 4,236.
Of the 17 deaths, nine were reported from Kolkata, four from North 24 Parganas and one each from North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia and Purba Medinipore districts, the bulletin said.
Earlier, the government had said that 72 coronavirus-afflicted patients died due to comorbidities and COVID-19 in those cases was "incidental".
With 94 new cases, Kolkata is at the top of the chart.
Districts that reported a high number of infections in the last 24 hours are Hooghly (82), North 24 Parganas (60), Howrah (56) and Purulia (43), the bulletin said.
Three people from other states have also tested positive for the disease.
At least 9,771 samples have been tested for the dreaded disease since Friday evening.
The number of samples examined so far has climbed to 2,61,288.
Altogether 207 patients were discharged from different hospitals in the state during the period, raising the number of recoveries to 3,119.
A constable of Kolkata Police who was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at a state-run hospital died Saturday, a source at the health department said.
The constable, who was posted at the Shakespeare Sarani police station, succumbed late Saturday evening but the cause of his death was not stated by the health department, he said.
"Whether he died of any comorbidity also needed to be checked," the source said.
On Saturday, 17 people died because of COVID-19, taking the toll in West Bengal to 311.
At least 427 people have tested positive for the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 7,738.