11 places with high infection rate marked as red zones

KOLKATA: Health department has identified 11 places across Bengal where Covid infection rate is comparatively higher and these areas have been included under red zone while 8 districts have been demarcated as yellow zone where the infection is comparatively low.

Fifth sentinel survey carried out by the health department reveals that the number of asymptomatic Covid patients far outweighs the number of symptomatic patients.

Around 9 districts, including the Nandigram and Basirhat health districts, have infection rate over 10 per cent while some other areas report positivity rate over 20 per cent. Rampurhat health district has been included into the yellow zone. In nine districts of Bengal it is around 5-10 per cent while in eleven districts the infection rate is between 10 to 20 per cent.

According to the latest sentinel report, the infection rate in different places of North Bengal and East Midnapore was recorded over 20 per cent during this period. Among the nine districts where the infection rate is below 10 per cent, there are districts like Bankura, West Midnapore, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Malda, Jalpaiguri etc. Infection rate has been detected nearly around 23 per cent in North 24-Parganas, around 24 per cent in East Midnapore's Nandigram. Kolkata has registered an infection rate at around 13 per cent while Howrah saw around 14 per cent infection rate during this period. Kalimpong and Darjeeling also registered high infection rates of around 19 and 18 per cent respectively.

The survey aims to find out if asymptomatic Covid infections are taking place in the state.

The survey was mostly performed on the patients having no symptoms. Surveys conducted in April and May revealed that infection almost became nil in various districts. The earlier sentinel survey report also showed that infection rate in Kolkata also flattened.

According to the health department data, the infection rate started climbing up from the middle of June.