After 44 days, single-day Covid cases drop below 9k-mark

KOLKATA: After 44 days, the single day Covid infection in Bengal dropped below 9,000 giving some sort of relief to the state Health department. Bengal has registered 8,923 new cases in the past 24 hours.

On April 19, the single-day Covid infection in the state stood at 8,426 and on the very next day the figure jumped to 9,819. On April 21, the number of infections further rose up to 10,784. The infection had gone up to an all time high at 20,000 in May. Health officials said that strict restrictions imposed by the State government continue to bring fruitful results.

Nearly 8 lakh doses Covid vaccine have arrived in the city on Wednesday which includes around 5.2 lakh doses of Covishield and around 2.66 Covaxin. Meanwhile, as a part of its continued process of procuring vaccines from the manufacturers, the state government is set to receive around 22,12,630 doses later this month. In a letter, the Union Health Ministry has informed the state health department that around 22,12,630 doses of vaccine would be allocated to the state for the current month under direct procurement. Out of the total doses, around 18,49,300 doses of Covishield and 3,63,330 doses of Covaxin will arrive by the mid of June. The State Health department has already vaccinated around 1,51,81,020 people across Bengal so far. Around 2,08,646 people were administered the vaccine in the past 24 hours.

Around 1,62,393 people have received the first dose on Wednesday and 8,037 people have taken the second dose. No adverse effects following immunization (AEFI) were reported on Wednesday.

The total number of infected patients in the state reached 13,94,724 on Wednesday. Around 17,386 patients have been released from the state in the past 24 hours. As many as 13,08,896 Covid patients have been cured and discharged from the hospitals so far. Covid recovery rate on Wednesday remained at 93.85 per cent.

The percentage of positive cases out of the sample tested stands at 11.09. The percentage of occupancy of Covid beds in the State stood at 26.44. Bengal has so far conducted 1,25,71,179 Covid sample tests so far with around 75,161 samples tested in the past 24 hours. The number of active Covid cases dropped at 70,015 from 78,613 on Tuesday.

The total number of fatalities has gone up to 15,813 on Wednesday with the new deaths being reported at 135. Kolkata has registered 38 Covid deaths on Tuesday while North 24-parganas has seen 43 deaths in the past 24 hours. South 24-Parganas has reported 6 deaths, Howrah 10, Hooghly 2, West Burdwan 1, East Burdwan 2, West Midnapore 4, Bankura 2, Birbhum 2, Nadia 6, Murshidabad 2, Malda 1, North Dinajpur 2, South Dinajpur 3, Jalpaiguri 7 and Darjeeling 4. Kolkata in the past 24 hours has registered 1,040 fresh cases and North 24-Parganas 1,860. The total death toll in Kolkata has so far reached 4,526 whereas North 24-Parganas has lost 3,997 people so far.

The total number of Covid infected patients in South 24-parganas has gone up to 87,839.