West Bengal reports 1,200 new COVID-19 cases, 26 more dead

Among those who have tested positive are actress Koel Mallick, her husband and movie producer Nispal Singh Rane, mother Deepa Mallick, and father Ranjit Mallick, who is a renowned actor.

While infections in the state have surged, the rise in recoveries, seen mid-June, has stalled. This month, the discharge rate has been 61.02 per cent, almost three percentage points less than the overall recovery rate of 63.99 per cent. The discharge rate has been consistently dropping since July 4.

Keeping with the trend, Kolkata, and the adjoining districts of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Howrah continued to report the bulk of the cases and deaths. On Friday, these districts reported 936 or 78% of the latest infections, and 24 of the deaths. The only other two fatalities occurred in Malda and Purba Medinipur districts.

According to the government data, almost 82 per cent of the infections and 90 per cent of the fatalities this month have been reported from Kolkata, its adjoining districts, and Hooghly.

Infections, also continued to climb in Malda and Darjeeling in North Bengal on Friday as the two districts reported a combined 77 cases. Of the other districts in the region, Jalpaiguri has reported 109 cases this month, and has an active caseload of 104 at present.

Meanwhile, Jhargram district became Covid-free for the third time after the six patients in the district hospital were discharged.