West Bengal: Five die of Covid-19, 193 people test positive

With 72 people discharged from hospitals in 24 hours, the number of recovered patients rose to 1,486.

The state health department on Tuesday said five more people had died of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), taking the toll to 211.

Two of the deaths occurred in Kolkata, and one each in Murshidabad and Howrah districts. The fifth person who died was a stranded resident of another state. If deaths due to comorbidities are counted, the toll is 283.

Meanwhile, 193 positive cases were detected in the 24-hour period till 9 am, taking the total to 4,009.

Most of the new infections were detected in Kolkata (58), followed by North 24 Parganas (24), Howrah (21), and Hooghly (19). The other districts that reported positive cases are South 24 Parganas, Paschim and Purba Bardhaman, Purba Medinipur, Birbhum, Nadia, Murshidabad, Dakshin and Uttar Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, and Darjeeling. Four people from other states stranded in West Bengal also contracted the virus, while the districts in four cases are not known, according to the health department bulletin.

With 72 people discharged from hospitals in 24 hours, the number of recovered patients rose to 1,486. The active cases count rose to 2,240.

The government said in the 24 hours till 9 am it tested 9,228 samples, pushing up the number of specimens examined till date to 1,57,277. The test positivity rate is 2.55%, according to the bulletin.

Samples are being tested in 34 laboratories across the state, 11 of which became operational over the past week.

The health department said 18,146 people were still in government quarantine, while 1,03,564 people remained isolated at home.