West Bengal: Uptick in recovery rate even as cases rise, toll nears 1,300

Though recoveries have been over 1,000 a day since July 18, the infection growth and rise in fatalities have not stemmed. On Friday, the toll neared 1,300, rising to 1,290 following 35 new deaths.

More than 75 per cent of the latest infections and 29 deaths were recorded in the pandemic epicentre in South Bengal comprising Kolkata and other district.

The situation continued to remain grim in Kolkata, where the active caseload was 5,985 on Friday, over 30 per cent of the state’s active case count of 19,154.

The city’s Nilratan Sarkar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital reported 234 positive cases from Sunday to Thursday, including patients, doctors, nurses and other hospital staff.

A senior Department of Health official said, “We are very much worried about this, and we are investigating what exactly happened in the hospital.”

Meanwhile, a Kolkata Traffic Police officer succumbed to the virus in a private hospital on Friday morning.

Inspector Abhigyan Mukherjee from the equipment cell of the traffic police had been diagnosed with Covid-19 last week. Sub-Inspector Santanu Mukherjee, the officer’s colleague and friend, said the inspector, who was in his 50s, was popular at the workplace because of his jovial nature.

“He had been working really hard all these months. Abhigyan was quite popular because of his jovial character. He will be badly missed,” the sub-inspector said.

At least three personnel of the Kolkata Police, including Mukherjee, have died of Covid-19 so far. On Wednesday, CM Mamata Banerjee had said that around 500 policemen in the state had contracted the virus.

Apart from South Bengal, the situation has also been alarming in North Bengal over the past few weeks, especially in Darjeeling, the Dinajpur districts and Malda.

While Darjeeling added 89 new cases on Friday, the situation improved marginally in Malda and Dakshin Dinajpur, where the active caseloads fell after the discharge of a combined 169 patients. Darjeeling now has the active case count in the region with 528 patients. Jalpaiguri, meanwhile, became the third district in the region after Malda and Darjeeling to record over 1,000 total cases. While on Monday it had 261 active cases, on Friday the active caseload was 377.

With PTI inputs