The discharge rate of COVID-19 patients in West Bengal has improved to 78.46 percent on August 24 from 58.54 percent on August 18, state health department said.
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Altogether 3,285 patients were released from different hospitals during the day. The death toll due to coronavirus mounted to 2,851 after 57 people succumbed to the disease, while the states tally reached 1,41,837 with 2,967 new cases of infection, the department said in a bulletin. So far, 1,11,292 people have recovered from the disease in West Bengal and the number of active cases stood at 27,694.
The metropolis accounted for 13 of the fresh fatalities, followed by North 24 Parganas (12), Howrah (9), South 24 Parganas (6) and Hooghly (4), it added. The remaining 13 deaths were reported from several other districts. Out of the 57 deaths, 44 were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental, the bulletin said. It said that 700 new infections were registered in North 24 Parganas, 465 in Kolkata, 158 in South 24 Parganas, 154 in Paschim Medinipur, 134 in Purba Medinipur, 115 each in Alipurduar and Purulia, 109 in Darjeeling, 108 in Dakshin Dinajpur, 104 in Howrah and 102 in Bankura.
The remaining 807 cases were reported from 11 other districts of the state. The state has tested 15,61,311 samples for COVID-19 so far, including 35,267 tests in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister expressed concern over the rising number of coronavirus cases in North 24 Parganas district. She said that the positivity rate in North 24 Parganas is 20.67 percent while it is 13.7 percent in Howrah, 8.3 percent in Hooghly and 7.9 percent in South 24 Parganas.
The discharge rate in North 24 Parganas is 77 percent, while it is 82.2 percent in Howrah, 77.8 percent in Hooghly and 78.4 percent in South 24 Parganas, she said at a meeting with district magistrates and superintendents of police of these four districts. "There are some municipality areas and some panchayat areas in North 24 Parganas. We have to see how the spread of COVID-19 can be controlled in the district," she said.
She, who also holds the health portfolio, said that the district has some congested zones such as jute mill areas. She asked the officials to ramp up testing, tracking and tracing to stem the spread of coronavirus.
