State slashes cost of RT-PCR test to Rs 500 from Rs 950; 3,608 new cases

KOLKATA: In a unique move, the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Thursday capped the cost of RT-PCR test in private health establishments at Rs 500. Till now, the cost of RT-PCR test at the private laboratories was fixed at Rs 950. The WBCERC issued an order in this regard and it will benefit a large number of people undertaking the test at private laboratories.

The daily Covid infection curve dropped on Thursday with 3,608 daily infected cases being reported while on Wednesday state saw 4,969.

On Monday, the figure stood at 4,494 cases. The total number of infected cases reached 19,82,862 in Bengal so far. Out of this, around 19,06,656 patients have been released from the hospitals after recovery.

The positivity rate on Thursday was registered at 7.12 per cent while it stood at 8.84 per cent on Monday. The number of fatalities on Friday stood at 36.

Kolkata has seen 423 new cases on Thursday. On Monday , the daily cases in the city stood at 496.

On Sunday, the figure stood at 973. After a gap of 25 days, the number of daily Covid infected cases in Kolkata dropped below 1,000 on last Sunday.

North 24-Parganas on Tuesday saw 524 new cases.

North 24-Parganas has seen 14 Covid deaths on Thursday while Kolkata registered 8 deaths. South 24-Parganas has seen 4 deaths, Nadia 3, Bankura 1, Murshidabad 1, South Dinajpur 1, North Dinajpur 2, Jalpaiguri 1, Alipurduar 1.

The occupancy of Covid beds dropped to 4.53 per cent on Thursday from what stood at 4.60 per cent.

The state had an occupancy rate at 5.04 per cent on Tuesday from what stood at 5.66 percent on Monday. The fatality rate in Bengal stood at 1.03 per cent on Tuesday.

The total number of infected cases in Kolkata so far reached 4,42,729. Out of this, around 4,24,347 people have already been discharged from hospitals.

Around 5,500 people have so far died due to Covid in Kolkata till date. The total number of infected cases in North 24-Parganas has so far gone up to 3,98,512. As many as 3,83,976 patients have been discharged from the hospital so far.

State registered the discharge rate at 96.16 per cent on Thursday. Around 40,019 samples were tested across the state on Thursday. State has so far carried out 2,30,02,149 sample tests. The RT-PCR and Antigen test ratio remained at 45:55 on Friday.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has spent Rs 74 crore from its State Disaster Response Fund to settle around 15,000 claims of COVID-19 deaths out of the over 18,500 applications it has received so far, a minister said here on Tuesday.

At least 80 per cent of the claims have been cleared, and more will be done soon, he stated.