Bengal on Wednesday reported record number of Covid-19 cases, deaths and tests as total count of patients went past 49,000 and recoveries crossed 29,000.

While 2,291 people were found infected in a 24-hour period till 9am on Wednesday, the number of deaths were 39. The total tests conducted during the same period were 14,040.

Prior to this, the highest number of cases had been 2,282 on Monday. The highest number of deaths at 36 and tests at 13,471 had previously been recorded on Sunday.

“Bengal logged nearly 34,000 new cases in the past 27 days. Of them, 15,000 were reported in the past week alone. But the good news is we also have had 20,000-odd recoveries since June 26 — 9,000 in the past week,” said a Bengal minister.

The state reported 1,615 new recoveries in 24 hours till 9am on Wednesday. The number was just two short of the record set on Tuesday.

The recovery rate, which had fallen to nearly 58 per cent last week from the record 66.72 per cent on July 4, rose slightly over the past few days to touch 60.11 on Wednesday. The national recovery rate is now 63.29.

Of the total 1,221 deaths from the novel coronavirus, Calcutta alone accounted for 623, with 15 till 9am. North 24-Parganas recorded a total of 245 deaths, 11 of them on Wednesday. The state government reported 1,027 deaths (84.1 per cent) as those with comorbidity “present”.

Of the 2,291 new cases, nearly 82 per cent were reported from Calcutta and four surrounding districts.

The city and the four districts have high population density. The city alone logged 692 new cases, while North 24-Parganas recorded 624 more patients.

“Just these five districts added more than 11,000 new cases in a week and over 26,000 in the 27-day window. The biweekly lockdowns that will begin from Thursday are aimed at getting a grip on the outbreak in this cluster, which accounts for over three-fourths of all cases,” said the minister.

The state’s total test count is now 7.43 lakh, which is 8,261 per million.

Owing to the sharp spike in the number of infections, the positive confirmation rate — the percentage of people found infected among those tested — deteriorated drastically since June 26 — from 3.56 to 6.63 per cent.

Bengal’s overall mortality rate improved to 2.47, from 3.87 per cent on June 26. Calcutta’s mortality rate is 4.06 now. The current national rate is 2.41 per cent.

Isolation 

Over 50 Trinamul leaders and workers in Hooghly district, including the ruling party’s district chief Dilip Yadav, Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee and Chanditala MLA Swati Khandoker, went into isolation on Wednesday after Jangipara MLA Snehasis Chakraborty tested positive for Covid-19. His wife, son and two other relatives were also detected with the novel coronavirus .

Chakraborty was part of a booth-level programme to commemorate Trinamul’s Martyrs’ Day on Tuesday. He came in contact with 15-odd senior leaders at the event.

Chakraborty, said sources in Trinamul, is the eighth MLA of the ruling party to get infected with Covid-19.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty