2 more deaths, 28 new cases in Bengal .... The death toll directly related to Covid-19 rose by two to 22

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya, TT, 29.04.20, Calcutta: The Mamata Banerjee government on Tuesday said the total count of active Covid-19 patients in Bengal stood at 522 with 28 new cases from five districts and the discharge of 10 infected persons after cure in the past 24 hours.

The death toll directly related to Covid-19 rose by two to 22.

Chief secretary Rajiva Sinha said the state’s positive confirmation rate — the percentage of the number of Covid-19 positive cases found out of the number of tests conducted in total — was 5.3 per cent on Tuesday, down from 5.4 per cent on Monday.

With 119 total cured cases, the recovery rate — the percentage of cured patients out of the total number of infected patients — stood at 18.1 per cent, he said.

“Our recovery rate is better than many other states of India,” said Sinha, adding that the doubling rate remained unchanged at nine days.

Sinha said Bengal had conducted 1,180 tests in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 13,223 tests at the 14 Centre-approved laboratories in the state.

“The number of tests per million people is now 142, up from 126 on Monday. In a matter of days, we ought to reach the national average,” he said.

“We have 14 labs (approved by the Centre) so far, while other states have many more, three-four times four…. The 14 labs have a total capacity, in a single shift, of 1,400 tests, in ideal conditions,” he added.

The chief secretary said 5,388 people were in state-run quarantine centres, while 16,052 others were in home quarantine.

Sinha said of the 28 new cases, 75 per cent were found in the high-prevalence districts of Calcutta, Howrah and North 24-Parganas, while the rest were in Hooghly and South 24-Parganas.

“The number of containment zones remained unchanged at 227 in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation area, 56 in Howrah, 57 in North 24-Parganas and eight in East Midnapore,” said Sinha.

The state has 11 districts in the orange zone.

The 11 are Murshidabad, Nadia, Darjeeling, East Burdwan, West Burdwan, East Midnapore, Malda, Hooghly, South 24-Parganas, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri.

Kalimpong (with no cases in 26 days) and Jalpaiguri (no cases in 24 days) are likely to be moved to the green zone in a matter of days. Eight of the state’s 23 districts have reported no Covid-19 cases so far.

The state has distributed to its hospitals 4.91 lakh personal protective equipments kits, 2.84 lakh N95 masks, 19.65 lakh other masks, 1.16 litres of hand sanitiser and 9.6 lakh gloves. The state, said Sinha, also acquired 25,000 face shields to be distributed now.

On the issue of reopening industrial units and enterprises in Bengal, Sinha said the government had so far cleared 2,419 of 5,452 applications while it had rejected 1,731.