West Bengal: 355 fresh cases take Covid count to 13,000+, 11 more die

Due to the surge in cases, the number of containment zones in the state rose from 1,907 to 2,428 in a week, according to the state government website. Kolkata, which has the most active cases at present (2,212), also has the maximum number of containment zones (1,512). It is followed by North 24 Parganas with 219 zones. Howrah district now has 121 containment zones, an increase of 45 since June 12.

Though the recovery rate has been improving, and was 55.79% on Friday, senior state government officials attributed the spike in cases to the “unplanned manner” in which the migrant workers were brought back to the state amid the pandemic.

With 302 people getting discharged from hospitals, the number of recovered patients jumped to 7,303, while the active case count increased to 5,258.

According to the health bulletin, in which figures are updated till 9 am, 10,321 specimens were examined in a day, taking the cumulative number of samples tested till date to 3,80,612. The test positivity rate remained at 3.44%.

The government reported the release of more migrant returnees from its special centres, saying only 69,667 remain in these facilities at present. On June 12, 1,05,842 migrant workers were in these centres. According to the government, 9,484 others remain in government quarantine, while 1,42,869 people remain isolated at home.

(With PTI inputs)