Bengal reports 22,155 new cases of Covid; administers about 38,215 booster doses

KOLKATA: Bengal on Wednesday administered 38,215 booster or precautionary doses of Covid vaccine on the health professionals, frontline workers and senior citizens. As many as 86,118 doses have been administered on youths in the age group of 15 to 18 years on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the state has cumulatively administered over 11.20 crore doses so far in Bengal since the immunisation drive began. The Health department administered around 4,78,026 doses among the general population on Wednesday. Around 4,44,00,597 people in the state have received double doses so far while around 6,75,17,365 people have got first jab so far. Incidentally, around 2.80 lakh people in Kolkata have skipped second dose of Covid vaccine so far followed by Malda (2.14 lakh) and Murshidabad (2.10 lakh).

Single-day Covid infected cases in Bengal has gone up to 22,155 on Wednesday from what was registered at 21,098 on Tuesday. The positivity rate, however, dropped to 30.86 per cent on Wednesday from 32.35 per cent on Tuesday. The recovery rate in the state remained at 92.51 per cent on Wednesday. Veteran Tollywood actor Prasenjit Chatterjee, actress Swastika Mukherjee and singer Rupam Islam tested positive for Covid on Monday. He has been undergoing treatment at home isolation.

Kolkata saw 7,060 new cases on Wednesday while North 24-Parganas registered 4,326 fresh cases. The total infected cases so far in Kolkata reached 4,06,372 till Wednesday while around 3,70,417 people from North 24-Parganas have so far been infected out of which 3,43,074 patients have been released from the hospitals after being recovered.

State Health department on Tuesday issued an advisory saying that nursing students can be included in the treatment of Covid patients. The decision has been taken after a large number of doctors, nursing professionals and health workers in various government and private hospitals have been infected with Covid.

Midnapore Medical College and Hospital has started a separate Covid ward for children as over 10 children got infected with Covid on an average basis in the past few days. A 50-bed unit has been set up out of which in 25 beds there are oxygen facilities. Remaining 25 beds have critical care infrastructure. Barrackpore Municipality has started a helpline number so that Covid infected patients or their family members can directly inform the civic authority in case of any requirement. The number is 8276917277.