1,560 Covid cases, 622 recoveries in a day - There were also 26 deaths reported till 9am on Sunday

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |   13.07.20  : Bengal shattered the 24-hour record for new Covid-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday with 1,560 people being detected with the novel coronavirus.

“In seven days, the state has had 7,887 new cases and 175 deaths. The total case count is past 30,000 now,” said a Bengal minister.

On the “positive side”, he was quick to add, Bengal also set new 24-hour records on Sunday for recoveries with 622 and tests with 11,709. “In these seven days, the state also saw 3,870 recoveries and 75,991 tests,” he said.

Prior to this, all the three records had been set on Saturday with 1,344 new cases, 611 recoveries and 11,403 tests.

There were also 26 deaths reported till 9am on Sunday, which was the 17th day in the ongoing spell of rise since June 26.

In the new cases, the state broke records for five consecutive days, with 986 on Wednesday, 1,088 on Thursday, 1,198 on Friday and 1,344 on Saturday, before Sunday’s total.

“It has been a difficult week. But the total case count includes 18,581 recoveries,” the minister said.

“Our recovery rate was nearly past 67, head and shoulders above the national rate, even last week. Today (Sunday), it was 61.9 per cent, behind the national rate — which is 63 — after a long time,” he added.

Of the new cases, around 74 per cent were recorded in Calcutta and surrounding districts which have high population density. The city alone reported 454 cases, while North 24-Parganas logged 357. In South 24-Parganas, 161 cases were reported, while Howrah and Hooghly logged 127 and 54 cases, respectively.

“These five districts have added 6,283 cases in one week. Calcutta accounts for a third of total cases. Calcutta and North 24-Parganas districts contributed 15,237 out of 30,013 Covid-19 cases,” said the minister.

Of the total 932 deaths, 499 were in Calcutta. The city recorded 13 deaths for a 24-hour period till 9am on Sunday. In North 24-Parganas, 164 people died from the pathogen and three of the deaths were reported on Sunday. Howrah logged 127 deaths.

Two of them were recorded in a 24-hour period till 9am.

The state government reported 753 deaths or 80.8 per cent of the toll as those with comorbidity “present”. A month ago, there were 451 deaths, but the share of comorbid deaths in the total was 67.8 per cent.

The state’s total test count is now 6,17,079, with 6,856 tests per million, but owing to the considerable rise in new cases, the positive confirmation rate deteriorated from 4.09 a week ago to 4.86 per cent.

While Bengal’s overall mortality rate stood at 3.1 per cent, that of the city was 5.19. The national rate now is 2.65 per cent.

Around 6.93 lakh people have completed quarantine successfully, while 44,000-odd remain in quarantine.