Bengal records 4,511 new COVID cases, highest one-day spike since pandemic began

By PTI
KOLKATA: West Bengal on Monday registered 4,511 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day spike since the pandemic started last year, pushing the state’s tally to 6,19,407, the state health department said in a bulletin.

Kolkata also set a record of 1,115 new cases. The state reported this year’s highest COVID-19 fatalities at 14 on Monday, pushing the death toll to 10,414.

The bulletin said that 1,947 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cured people to 5,82,462. The state currently has 26,531 active cases.

Out of the 14 deaths, 11 were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental. Kolkata accounted for four deaths, while three each were reported from North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts.

South 24 Parganas district registered two deaths while Paschim Bardhaman and Paschim Medinipur recorded one fatality each, the bulletin said.

The fresh positive cases included 1,115 from Kolkata and 1,084 from North 24 Parganas district.

In the last 24 hours, 37,116 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state. On Monday, at least 2,32,734 people were vaccinated in West Bengal, an official of the state health department said.

At a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, the state government decided that no big celebration will be allowed on the occasion of Bengali New Year falling on April 15 in view of the surge in coronavirus cases, official sources said.