Bengal: Cases over 2 lakh, but decline in infection growth continues

Though the recovery rate continued to improve this week, rising to 86.4 per cent on Sunday, active cases registered an incremental increase. The active caseload was 23,624 on Sunday, up from 23,218 at the end of last week.

In another worrying sign, the weekly positivity rate jumped from 6.7 per cent to 7.03 per cent even though fewer tests were conducted — 3,11,368 compared to 3,13,294 tests the week before.

This week 383 deaths occurred, compared to 386 the previous week. It pushed up the toll to 3,945. The case fatality rate, however, remained almost the same at 1.95 per cent.

Just over half of the cases, and 263 of the deaths were recorded in the South Bengal epicentre comprising Kolkata; its adjoining districts North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and Howrah; and Hooghly. While North 24 Parganas reported a substantial drop in active cases —

from 5,050 last week to 4,396 — in South 24 Parganas it rose from 1,321 to 1,389.

Howrah provided cheerful news as its active caseload dropped below 1,000 following a fifth straight week of decline. It was 938 on Sunday, while on August 9 it was 2,131.

However, the situation was dispiriting in other districts in the region such as Purba and Paschim Medinipur, which reported 33 deaths. Their active cases also remained high. In Purba Medinipur, it was up from 1,146 at the end of last week to 1,446, while in Paschim Medinipur the number of patients rose from 1,229 to 1,396.

The most alarming situation was in Paschim Bardhaman, which added 977 cases and recorded six fatalities. It now has 1,046 active cases. Up in the north, the infection growth seems to have picked up again in Malda, where active cases had dropped to 290 last week. Now, there are 409 patients in the district. There were also 10 deaths this week.

Meanwhile, the BJP MP from Balurghat, Sukanta Majumdar, tested positive in New Delhi ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament.