Total no. of Covid-cured patients touch 7,000-mark

Kolkata: As many as 468 Covid patients have been discharged from various hospitals in the state in the past 24 hours after they recovered from the deadly virus. The total number of patients discharged from the hospitals so far has reached 7,001 on Thursday.

The number of patients being cured and released in a single day has however seen a little dip on Thursday compared to that of the previous day. On Wednesday 505 patients were discharged from the hospitals.

The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in the state has gone up significantly in the past few days. On Thursday the discharge rate of patients stood at 54.97 per cent. The state has recorded 435 new COVID cases in the past 24 hours and the total number of positive patients across the state has therefore gone up to 12,735 so far.

The total death toll on Thursday reached 518 so far in the state out of which 12 persons have died of the disease in the past 24 hours. The health department conducted 9,315 sample tests in the past 24 hours taking the total number of sample tests done so far across the state to 3,70,291 till Thursday. The percentage of positive cases out of the sample tested has gone up to 3.44 per cent. It has also seen a rise as the percentage stood at 3.41 per cent on Tuesday.

Kolkata has registered 180 new cases on Thursday and it has so far seen a total 4,269 COVID positive cases. North 24-parganas has recorded 1,796 positive cases out of which 61 new patients have been found in the past 24 hours. Around 1,927 cases have been reported from Howrah till Thursday out of which 57 have been reported in the past 24 hours. There are 77 COVID dedicated hospitals set up in the state so far and 69 testing labs have been made operational.

The state health department has issued an order saying that the quality of the food served at the COVID hospitals should be improved. The health department said that patients should be

given 4 pieces of bread, one boiled egg, and one piece of banana, 250 ml boiled milk for breakfast. In the lunch the patients must be served 100 gm fine rice, 50 gam dal, seasonal vegetable, fish or chicken (80-90 grams), curd for each patient while in dinner the patients would get 100 grams fine rice/chapati, 50 grams dal, seasonal vegetable, 100 grams fish or chicken.

Meanwhile, two senior monks of Belur Math, who were diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, are recovering well, and doors of the temple complex were reopened for visitors three days ago, only after putting in place necessary safety measures, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

The two monks, residents of Arogya Sadan complex at one end of the sprawling complex, are undergoing treatment at a private hospital, and one of them will be discharged in a day or two, the spokesperson at the Ramakrishna Math and Mission headquarters said.

Asked about the measures undertaken to ensure all- round safety of devotees, in the wake of the two cases, he said, "Arogya Sadan, where the monks reside, is 500 metres from the temple compound. The area has been sealed and sanitised. There was no need to stop the entry of devotees as necessary COVID-19 guidelines were being followed."

The monks — one of them a doctor and the other a lawyer — were believed to have contracted the disease after coming in contact with a male attendant.