Trinamul Congress MLA Tamonash Ghosh breathed his last on Wednesday, becoming the first lawmaker in Bengal to succumb to Covid-19. He was 64.

The party’s treasurer since its inception in 1998 and three-time MLA from Falta, South 24-Parganas, Ghosh had been hospitalised for weeks after testing positive last month.

Ghosh, according to party colleagues, had health complications like diabetes, deemed a serious comorbidity in a novel coronavirus infection.

“Very, very sad. Tamonash Ghosh, 3-time MLA from Falta & party treasurer since 1998 had to leave us today. Been with us for over 35 years, he was dedicated to the cause of the people & party. He contributed much through his social work,” tweeted chief minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

“He has left a void that will be difficult to fill. On behalf of all of us, heartfelt condolences to his wife Jharna, his two daughters, friends and well wishers,” she added.

Several party leaders expressed shock at Ghosh’s demise and rued the loss of a “true gentleman” with no enemies despite over three decades in public life.

Bengal’s Covid-19 toll rose by 11 to 591 on Wednesday, Calcutta accounting for 345. The state government reported 437 or 73.94 per cent of deaths with comorbidity “present”.

While Bengal’s mortality rate stands at 3.89 per cent, that of Calcutta is 6.94 per cent and national is 3.15 per cent.

Otherwise, Bengal continued on its path of steady improvement. The total active cases now stand at 4,880, reflecting a steady slide. Recoveries, on the other hand, are increasing, 484 of them in 24 hours pushing the total to 9,702. The recovery rate improved to 63.94 per cent, substantially better than the national rate of 57.31.

Since June 13, Bengal has had 5,160 recoveries, which account for over 53 per cent of all recoveries. A month ago, the state had 1,414 recoveries and a recovery rate of 37.05.

Of the 445 new Covid-19 cases reported on Wednesday, around 99 per cent were reported from districts with a high volume of returnees.

Calcutta alone reported 155.

The state reported 9,489 tests in 24 hours, taking the total test count to 4,29,766, with 4,775 tests per million.

However, owing to the rise in new cases, positive confirmation rate or percentage of people found infected among those tested deteriorated from 2.58 a month ago to 3.53 per cent.