West Bengal: Covid-19 case count nears 14,000, toll up to 555

The most deaths and infections continued to be reported from Kolkata, and the neighbouring districts of North 24 Parganas and Howrah — the epicentre of the pandemic in the state. Of the latest deaths, six occurred in the capital city, taking the number of patients here who have died of Covid-19 to 329. Kolkata was followed by North 24 Parganas with four deaths, and Howrah with three. Paschim Medinipur and Hooghly recorded one death each.

The capital reported 126 of the new positive cases, while 88 were detected in North 24 Parganas, 45 in Howrah, and 28 in Darjeeling. The infection curve continued to rise even as the discharge rate increased to the highest ever figure of 59.49 per cent following the release of 432 patients from hospitals in 24 hours. So far, 8,297 people have recovered from the disease. The active case count declined by 33 to 5,093.

Meanwhile, the government said 10,549 tests were conducted in a day, the highest number till date. In total, 4,01,491 samples have been examined in the state. The test positivity rate increased marginally to 3.47 per cent.

According to the health bulletin, the number of migrant returnees in special centres continued to decline. At present, 60,303 migrants are in these facilities, while 8,897 people are in institutional quarantine.

The government said there were 166 people in safe homes, and 1,37,838 are isolated at home.