kolkata: Asymptomatic Covid cases are on the rise across the state with various districts registering a sudden rise in the positivity rate.
Daily Covid infection on Tuesday jumped to 406 from what stood at 224 on Monday. The figure was registered at 362.
Around 191 cases have been reported from Kolkata while North 24-Parganas recorded 104 fresh cases.
A recent sentinel survey conducted by the Health department has suggested that many of infected patients are asymptomatic.
Health experts had earlier warned that asymptomatic cases are going up and they suggested that the number of daily Covid tests should be increased.
The Covid positivity rate is the highest in Howrah with 2.33 per cent followed by North 24-Parganas with 1.75 per cent and West Midnapore.
The recent sentinel survey report was carried out between June 15-17 on over 11,000 samples collected from 28 hospitals. Around 400 samples have been collected from each hospital.
The Health department found that Howrah has the highest positivity rate. There were around 2 districts with 0.5 positivity rate in May when the second phase of sentinel survey was carried out. In June when the third phase of sentinel survey was performed Covid positivity remained over 1 percent in only four districts. The fourth phase of sentinel survey carried out recently reveals that more than nine districts have their Covid positivity rate over 1 per cent.
Health officials have pointed out that most of the infected patients are found not to have received Covid vaccination.
There are around 1,686 government run vaccination centres while the number of private vaccination centers stands at 162.
As the daily infection went below 30 in the past couple of months, many people became reluctant to get the booster dose. Many elderly citizens have skipped their booster doses.
State health department has directed all the districts to carry out door-to-door campaigns urging elderly people to take booster doses as many senior citizens are still reluctant to receive boosters.
The recent survey said that around 75 per cent of those who received vaccines are protected against Covid.
Elderly people in Kolkata are also reluctant to get a booster. There are around 9 lakh people in Kolkata who are above 60. Out of this, around 2.85 lakh people have so far received Covid booster dose.
Out of around 45 lakh population in the city, only around 4 lakh have received boosters so far.
One death has been reported on Tuesday. State saw one death on Monday and Sunday as well.
Covid fatality rate stood at 1.05 per cent on Tuesday, unchanged from Monday's figure. The recovery rate dropped to 98.84 per cent from what stood at 98.85 per cent on Monday.
Around 20,22,547 people have so far been infected with Covid across the state out of which 19,99,008 people have recovered.
State health department has directed all the districts to carry out door-to-door campaigns urging elderly people to take booster doses as many senior citizens are still reluctant to receive boosters.
State health department also directed the Chief Medical Officer of health in all the districts to monitor the Covid situations in their respective districts.
The district officials may be asked to ensure that people wear masks while visiting local markets and other public places.
In the wake of a sudden rise in daily Covid cases in the city, the health experts have urged people to wear masks and follow Covid norms.
They also emphasized on booster dose vaccination.