Kolkata: The state on Tuesday registered 10,430 new Covid cases, which was a slight jump from Monday's figure of 9,385. Bengal saw a substantial drop in daily infections on Monday with 9,385 cases being reported while on Sunday the daily infection stood at 14,938. On Saturday, the daily infected cases remained at 19,064 while the figure stood at 22,645 on Friday.
The total number of infected cases reached 19,17,514 in Bengal so far. Out of this, around 17,41,648 patients have been released from the hospitals after recovery. The positivity rate also dropped to 19.38 on Tuesday from what stood at 26.43 percent on Monday. The figure stood at 27.73 percent on Sunday. The number of fatalities on Tuesday has gone up to 34 from 33 on Monday. The total death toll has gone up to 20,155 on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Bengal on Tuesday administered 55,746 booster or precautionary doses of Covid vaccine on health professionals, frontline workers and senior citizens. As many as 95,909 doses have been administered on youths in the 15-18 age group on Tuesday. Bengal has cumulatively administered over 11.56 crore doses so far since the immunisation drive began out of which around 7,48,403 doses were administered on Tuesday. Around 4,68,12,951 people in the state have received double doses so far while around 6,84,54,790 have got their first jab so far.
A schoolboy was administered Covid vaccine twice on the same day at a school in West Midnapore's Debra. The boy told the health staff that he had already received the dose but the former assumed that he might be lying in fear of vaccination. The health condition of the boy is stable. The Chief Medical Officer of Health in the district has been asked to look into the matter.
Meanwhile, flagging a decline in the number of Covid tests in many states and Union Territories, the Centre has asked them to enhance testing so that an effective track of the spread of the pandemic can be kept and immediate citizen-centric action can be initiated.
In a letter to states and UTs on Monday, Additional Secretary in the Union Health ministry Arti Ahuja advised them to pay attention to this aspect immediately and increase the testing in a strategic manner keeping in view the trend of case positivity in specific areas.
She highlighted that Omicron, which has been designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a variant of concern, is currently spreading across the country.
Referring to the ministry's earlier letters and the Home Ministry advisory of December 27 last year laying out the broad framework of pandemic management in the context of Omicron, Ahuja said testing remains a key and crucial component.
"However, it is seen from the data available on the ICMR portal that testing has declined in many states and union territories," she wrote.
She said in all advisories on testing issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), including the latest on January 10, the basic objective remains early detection of cases for quick isolation and care.
In addition, testing remains a key strategy for pandemic management as it helps in the identification of new clusters and new hotspots of infection which can, in turn, facilitate immediate action for containment such as setting up of containment zones, contact tracing, quarantining, isolation and follow-up.
This can enable the state and district administrations to curb the spread of infection. Also, this will ensure a reduction in mortality and morbidity.
"Progression of disease to a severe category can be averted by strategic testing of those who are at high risk and more vulnerable, as well as in areas where the spread is likely to be higher," Ahuja said.
Reiterating the advisory on purposive testing strategy issued by the ICMR on January 10, she said in community settings all those who are symptomatic must be tested and all at-risk contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases must also be tested.
This advisory needs to be read in conjunction with the earlier guidelines and advisories of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, wherein it has been recommended that strategic and focused testing should be done of people who are vulnerable, living in closed surroundings, in densely populated areas in emerging new clusters and new hotspots of positive cases, etc., Ahuja said.
"In order to ensure that an effective track of the spread of the pandemic is kept and also immediate citizen-centric action is initiated, it is incumbent upon all states/UTs to enhance testing," she said.
With 2,38,018 new infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of Covid cases rose to 3,76,18,271, which includes 8,891 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Tuesday.
The active cases have increased to 17,36,628, the highest in 230 days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,86,761 with 310 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. There has been an 8.31 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Monday, the ministry said.
The cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country have reached 158.74 crore so far, the Union Health ministry said on Tuesday.
A total of 3,70,32,672 doses have been given to adolescents in the age group of 15 to 18 years, according to the ministry data. More than 65 lakh (65,85,945) vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Tuesday.