Covid recoveries cross 1 lakh in Bengal -The state logged 3,245 novel coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest intra-day count so far

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |   22.08.20  :  Over 1 lakh people were cured of Covid-19 in Bengal with 3,082 recoveries being reported on Friday. 
As the total number of recoveries rose to 1,01,871, the state also recorded yet another 24-hour high in tests at 36,229. The day’s death toll was 55.
Bengal also logged 3,245 novel coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest intra-day count so far. Of the new cases, the city reported 462, while North 24-Parganas had 764.
The highest number of new cases recorded on a single day previously had been Thursday’s 3,197. The maximum single-day test tally earlier was 35,107 reported on Tuesday.
Out of the total 1.32 lakh cases, Bengal now has 1.01 lakh recoveries and 2,689 deaths. The recovery rate is at an all-time high of 76.96 per cent, ahead of the national rate of 74.52.
“The first Covid-19 case in Bengal was found on March 17. Till July 31 — 136 days since then, we had 48,374 recoveries in total. In 21 days of August so far, we added 53,497 recoveries,” said a Bengal minister, underscoring the “whopping” 8 per cent rise in recoveries achieved in the three weeks of the current month.
Asked whether the surge was largely on account of the altered hospitalisation protocol for Covid-19 patients, the minister said it was “only one of many” factors, including newer steps for “better, more timely” medical intervention before, during and after institutional medical care ensured by the state government.
In the new hospitalisation protocol, fewer days of hospitalisation are required for those doing better.

“For the three-week window between July 10 and 31, the percentage of recovery in comparison to new cases was 72. That, for these three weeks, is 86,” said the minister.
The 36,229 tests took the total to past 14.87 lakh, at 16,532 tests per million people.
“The World Health Organisation advisory specifies 140 tests per million, daily. Now, we are at 403, nearly thrice of that. Just to give an idea of how much ground we have been covering, rapidly… we were at 211, even on July 31. A month ago, we were at 156,” said the minister.
“We are looking at getting at least 18.5 lakh tests (in total) done by the end of this month,” he added.
Owing to the sharp spike in new cases, the positive confirmation rate is now 8.9 per cent, which was 6.63 a month ago.
Of the total 2,689 deaths reported, Calcutta accounted for 1,154, with 22 till 9am. North 24-Parganas reported a total of 620 deaths, 10 of them on Friday.
The state reported 2,360 (87.8 per cent) deaths as those with comorbidity “present”. In the three weeks of August, 1,108 Covid patients died and 992 fatalities, according to the government, were comorbid.
Bengal’s overall mortality rate remained 2.03, still behind the national rate of 1.88 per cent. Calcutta’s mortality rate is 3.28.
The state reported 35.84 per cent occupancy in the 11,935 beds earmarked for Covid-19 patients at 86 dedicated hospitals.
Telemedicine consultation for the pandemic was provided to 1.05 lakh people, including 4,511 in the past 24 hours.