Bright spots in Bengal: Covid growth rate drops, upswing in recovery rate

Addressing mediapersons at state secretariat “Nabanna” on Monday, West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said the state was doing better than many others in tackling the pandemic, and referred to the jump in the recovery rate from 40.22% on June 18 to 60.5% on Monday.

“Our discharge rate is well ahead of the national average of 55%,” Bandyopadhyay said, crediting the state’s integrated medical services for the success. The recovery rate was gradually increasing, pushing down the active caseload, he added.

“If we continue to maintain the safety norms, avoid gatherings and wear masks, the situation will further change for the better,” Bandyopadhyay said.

Of the states that have reported more cases than West Bengal, only Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have a better recovery rate.

The Home Secretary’s comments came on a day the total number of cases crossed the 14,000 mark, settling at 14,358 after an addition of 413 cases in 24 hours. The state has added 2,858 cases in the last seven days. According to the state health bulletin, in which figures are updated till 9 am, the toll rose to 569 with the deaths of 14 more people. Most of the deaths,13, and infections, 195, were recorded in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and Howrah, which together are the epicentre of the pandemic in the state. The only other death occurred in Hooghly district.

According to the health bulletin, in 24 hours 390 people were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered patients to 8,687. The active case count rose marginally to 5,102.

The Home Secretary told reporters that the state was now conducting more than 10,000 tests. Though over 10,000 samples were examined in the last three days, the health bulletin reported that only 9,363 specimens were analysed in the last 24 hours. Overall, 4,10,854 samples have been tested till date. The uptick in test positivity rate continued as it reached 3.49%.

The number of migrant returnees in special centres continued to decrease, with 53,211 of them still in these facilities. The health department said 8,827 people were still in institutional quarantine, while 1,33,391 others remained isolated at home. According to the health bulletin, 198 people are in safe homes.