Bengal reports 26 more COVID deaths, 1,153 new cases

Kolkata: The COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal rose to 9,738 after 26 more people succumbed to the disease on Friday, a bulletin released by the state health department said.

The tally mounted to 5,53,216 after 1,153 new cases were detected in the state, it added.

The discharge rate improved to 96.07 per cent after 1,496 patients recovered from the disease, taking the total number of cured people to 5,31,862 in West Bengal.

The number of active cases stood at 11,616, the bulletin said.

The maximum of eight fatalities was reported from North 24 Parganas, while Kolkata registered six deaths. The other casualties were recorded in several other districts.

Out of the 26 deaths, 22 were because of comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental.

The city accounted for 280 fresh cases of infection, followed by North 24 Parganas (229), South 24 Parganas (60) and Howrah (55), the bulletin said.

In the last 24 hours, 39,109 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in West Bengal taking the total number of such examinations to 71,49,539, it said.