State reports 17,883 single-day Covid cases; 153 fresh fatalities

Kolkata: Single-day Covid infected cases dropped to 17,883 on Monday with the total infected tally reaching 12,84,973. Around 153 fatalities have been reported across Bengal in the past 24 hours taking the total casualties to 14,517 so far.

Around 11,41,871 patients have already been released from the hospitals. As many as 19,670 patients have been discharged in the past 24 hours. The number of releases has outweighed the count of fresh infections on Monday and the recovery rate stood at 88.86 per cent.

The percentage of positive cases out of the samples tested stands at 10.72. The percentage of occupancy of Covid beds in the state reached 37.15 on Monday.

Mira Bhattacharjee, wife of former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, was released from the private hospital after recovery. She was admitted to the hospital with Covid. Former Chief Minister Bhattacharjee who also tested positive is now stated to be stable.

With the number of Mucormycosis cases going up in Bengal, the Health department on Monday issued an order saying that IPGMER & SSKM will be the apex hub and the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital and BS Medical College and Hospital will be regional hubs for the management of Mucormycosis cases. The Health department proposed to form a multidisciplinary team at the hospitals with a microbiologist/pathologist/radio diagnosis expert, internal medicine specialist, ENT specialist, neurologist, ophthalmologist, dental surgeon, maxillofacial surgeon and endocrinologist in the team.

Director of Health Services Dr Ajay Chakraborty said till Monday, there are around 12 confirmed cases of Mucormycosis out of which four were from Bihar and one from Jharkhand. No new cases were reported on Monday. Out of the 12 confirmed cases, six have Covid or post Covid related issues. Others are not associated with Covid. Almost all have uncontrolled diabetes.

"Two of the above cases died on May 22 in a private hospital in the city. So far five suspects are there, one of whom died at Sambhunath Pandit Hospital. The cause of death is yet to be confirmed by the expert committee," Dr Chakraborty said.

Meanwhile, Kolkata registered 35 Covid deaths on Monday while North 24-Parganas saw 47 deaths in the past 24 hours. South 24-Parganas has reported eight deaths on Monday, Howrah 5, Hooghly 7, West Burdwan 4, East Midnapore 1, West Midnapore 3, Bankura 1, Purulia 2, Birbhum 4, Nadia 7, Murshidabad 8, South Dinajpur 3, North Dinajpur 6, Jalpaiguri 10, Darjeeling 2. Kolkata in the past 24 hours has registered 3,121 fresh cases and North 24-Parganas 3,793. The total death toll in Kolkata has so far reached 4,226 whereas North 24-Parganas has lost 3,633 people so far.

The state Health department on Monday conducted vaccinations on 1,80,616 people across the state. Bengal has so far carried out 1,33,24,809 lakh vaccination marks till Monday.

On Sunday, around 54,916 people were vaccinated in the state. No adverse effects following immunization (AEFI) were reported on Monday.