Bengal reports record 16,403 fresh COVID-19 cases, 73 deaths

Kolkata: West Bengal on Tuesday logged 16,403 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest-single spike recorded in the state so far, pushing the tally to 7,76,345, a bulletin issued by the state health department said.

The death toll climbed to 11,082 with 73 more fatalities, it said.

The metropolis accounted for 24 fatalities, followed by neighbouring North 24 Parganas (13), Howrah (8) and South 24 Parganas (6).

Forty-five of the 73 deaths were caused by comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental, it said.

Two doctors also succumbed to the virus on Tuesday Partha Pratim Laha (47) and Prasanta Mukhopadhyay (84), a health department official said.

The new infections include 3,708 cases in Kolkata and 3,451 in North 24 Parganas.

West Bengal now has 1,00,615 active cases, while 6,64,648 people have recovered from the disease, the bulletin said.

Altogether, 1,02,70,645 samples have been tested in the state thus far.

Meanwhile, 1,89,839 people were inoculated during the day, the department said.