As many as 2,066 Covid-cured patients discharged in a day

Kolkata: The Bengal government has carried out a record number of Covid tests at 22,321 in the past 24 hours.

The total number of sample tests carried out across the state has gone up to 9,78,980 on Tuesday.

The percentage of positive cases out of sample tested reached 8.27 per cent on Tuesday.

State Health department has urged the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to change its guidelines on "immediate retest" of a suspected patient who is found to be negative in rapid antigen tests.

The state government wants there must be a gap of at least three days between the rapid antigen tests and the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.

According to a health official, ICMR guideline says that if a person is found negative in an antigen test, his/her sample should be sent for the RT-PCR test immediately.

If a person tests negative in antigen tests he/she can be sent for the RT-PCR test after a gap of at least three days as the state health department believes that the total viral load will be revealed by that time, the official maintained.

"Doctors at fever clinics must look for clear symptoms like cough, breathlessness or loss of appetite and smell

apart from fever, before prescribing a patient to go for RT-PCR test.

This must be checked to stop the unnecessary rush of patients for the Covid tests," the official added.

Around 2,752 new Covid cases were reported in the past 24 hours and the total number of affected patients in the state has reached 80,984 so far.

As many as 2,066 Covid affected patients have been released from various hospitals in the past 24 hours and the total number of patients discharged from the hospitals so far reached 56,884.

The discharge rate of the state has gone up to 70.24 per cent on Tuesday.

The death toll in a single day has reached 54 on Tuesday which is also the highest so far.

The total death figure in the state has reached 1,785.

Kolkata has witnessed 719 new COVID cases in the past 24 hours. As many as 15 people died in the city in the past 24 hours.

The total number of infected patients in Kolkata has so far reached 24,537. North 24-parganas saw 596 new cases on Tuesday and the total number of cases has reached 17,431 cases in North 24-Parganas.

It has seen 14 deaths in the past 24 hours. Howrah has so far seen a total 8,632 Covid cases so far out of which 190 have been affected in the past 24 hours.

Around 117 patients tested positive in Hooghly in the past 24 hours. The total number of affected patients in Hooghly is 3,793. Malda has witnessed 51 new cases in the past 24 hours and the number of total infected patients reached 2,606.

South 24-Parganas has registered 233 new Covid cases while the total figure in this district has reached 5,862.