Highest single-day spike in state with 1,198 fresh cases

Kolkata: Bengal has witnessed 1,198 new Covid cases on Friday which is the highest spike in a single day so far in the state. The total number of affected persons reached 27,109 across the state till Friday.

Around 17,348 patients have been released from various hospitals so far till Friday out of the total infected.

As many as 522 patients were released from the hospitals after being cured in the past 24 hours. The discharge rate of the state stands at 63.99 per cent. The state has carried out 10,639 sample tests in the past 24 hours and the total number of samples tested across the state so far has gone up to 5,93,967. The percentage of positive cases out of sample tested stands at 4.56 per cent on Friday. Around 26 persons have died in the past 24 hours and the total death toll across the state has reached 880 on Friday. Kolkata has seen 374 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours. The total number of infected patients in Kolkata has so far reached 8,742. Around 328 new cases have been found in North 24-Parganas in the past 24 hours which is the highest single day spike in the district so far. The total number of affected persons in North 24-Parganas has reached 4,945. Howrah has seen a total 3,695 cases so far out of which 130 patients have been reported on Friday. Around 104 new patients tested positive from South 24-Parganas and 71 new cases in Hooghly. The total number of affected patients in Hooghly has gone up to 1,418 while in South 24-Parganas the figure stands at 1,918. Darjeeling has seen 28 fresh cases on Friday, Malda 49.

Meanwhile, the state Health department again issued an advisory on Friday to all the Covid hospitals and the Chief Medical Officer of health in the districts on case management for COVID-19 patients saying that proper oxygen prescription monitoring device and flow must be practiced.

Diagnostic and treatment protocols should be displayed at the ICU. Pharmacotherapy guidelines in mild, moderate and severe disease should be followed meticulously according to the government protocols. The advisory further says that high flow nasal cannula/non-invasive ventilation trail should be tried before invasive ventilation under close monitoring. Awake prone ventilation should be practiced.

It is better to set up environmental airborne isolation precautions in ICUs where aerosol generating procedures are frequently done. Central monitoring system should be available in the ICU as well.