West Bengal’s recovery rate inched closer to 80 per cent on Wednesday as the number of active cases fell for the third straight day. The state’s discharge rate was 79.75 per cent, almost 3.5 percentage points above the national rate. On Wednesday, the state registered 3,314 recoveries, while 2,974 new cases pushed up the case count to 1,47,775.
According to the state health bulletin, in which figures are updated till 9 am, a record 40,031 tests were conducted in 24 hours. It was the first time that over 40,000 samples were examined. In relief for health authorities, the test positivity rate fell to 8.83 per cent despite the increased testing.
Just over 52 per cent of the new cases, and 42 of the 55 latest deaths were recorded in the pandemic epicentre in South Bengal comprising Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hooghly. However, all the districts, except Howrah, saw their active caseloads decline.
In Purba Medinipur, the toll rose to 50 after one fatality, while its active cases came down marginally to 1,334 as 194 patients were released. In neighbouring Paschim Medinipur district, where the situation has worsened over the past week, the active caseload rose to 1,315 while two deaths occurred. Bankura, which had not reported any death till Monday, recorded two more deaths a day after its first Covid-19 fatality.
In the north, the situation continued to improve in Dakshin Dinajpur as its active cases fell to 770. The infection has now picked up pace in Jalpaiguri, which now has most active cases in the region (741) after Darjeeling (882), which reported four deaths. Jalpaiguri, which added 605 cases last week, has already seen its caseload increase 278 this week. In the first three days last week, it had recorded 243 infections.