46% of Bengal’s fresh Covid cases in Calcutta- 2,917 recoveries and 13 deaths

There were 2,917 recoveries and 13 deaths reported on Monday, including four deaths from Calcutta

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   04.01.22 : Bengal on Monday reported 6,078 new infections, including 2,801 or over 46 per cent of the state’s total from Calcutta alone.

Although both numbers are slightly less than Sunday’s state total of 6,153, including Calcutta’s 3,194, Bengal conducted only 31,030 tests on Monday compared to 38,633 the day before.

There were 2,917 recoveries and 13 deaths reported on Monday, including four deaths from Calcutta.

Hence, Bengal’s total active cases or Covid patients under treatment rose by 3,148 to 20,186, above 20,000 again after July 1, 2021.

The number of new infections reported on Monday is indicative of people who got infected in the December 25 to December 29 window.

Bengal’s positive confirmation rate rose to 19.59 per cent on Monday from 15.93 per cent on Sunday.

That basically means that one of every five tests in the state is returning Covid positive. A positive confirmation rate of up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable in a pandemic. At the peak of the second wave last year, it had climbed to 33 per cent.

Even on Christmas, Bengal’s positive confirmation rate was 1.71 per cent.

Calcutta and its immediate neighbourhood of North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 5,245 or 86.29 per cent of new infections reported in 24 hours, that is, till 9am on Monday.

The surge, apparent in the numbers since last Wednesday, is mostly in and around Calcutta for now and is being attributed by sources in the state government to the general disregard for Covid-19 safety protocols among revellers since the run-up to Christmas.

Bengal’s recovery rate slid further to 97.58 per cent, from 97.77 per cent on Sunday (98.33 even on Tuesday), considerably lower now than the national rate of 98.2.

Seventeen of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths on Monday.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.2 per cent, while that of the nation is 1.33 per cent.

Bengal now has more than 16.55 lakh Covid-19 cases, since the first was logged in March 2020. The total includes over 16.15 lakh recoveries and 19,794 deaths.

Omicron update

According to the Union health ministry data released on Monday morning, Bengal still has 20 omicron cases (including four recoveries), and is 11th among the list of states with the most such cases. The top three spots are occupied by Maharashtra with 510, Delhi with 351, and Kerala with 156.