KOLKATA: West Bengal recorded 14,022 new Covid-19 cases on Weddnesday. The daily tally in the state went above 14,000 for the first time since May 26 last year.
Kolkata shares 44% of the total new cases, having reported 6,170 on Wednesday. The growth rate is said to be highest ever since the outbreak of the pandemic in Bengal in 2020.
Bengal’s daily tally crossed 14,000 from 1,000-plus in just about a week. In the second wave, this mark was reached in 23 days, in last April. In the first wave, it had taken 105 days.
The state government is yet to announce a lockdown.
Restrictions have been enforced in many places and Kolkata Municipal Corporation has listed 27 containment zones.
“Instead of a statewide lockdown, the government will ensure strict restrictions in some of the localities where infection rate is higher,” said a state health department official.
The state’s daily positivity rate, which was 2.35% on December 28, has jumped to 23.17%.
“This indicates that one of every four tests in the state is reporting positive. A positivity rate of up to 5% is considerable tolerable in a pandemic situation. At the peak of the second wave last year, it was 33%,” said the official.
Elaborating on the possible reason, the official said general disregard for Covid-19 safety protocols was responsible for Bengal’s present grim situation.
“There was no control on the assemblies for Christmas and New Year celebrations were abundant. Thousands hit the roads across the state on the two occasions ignoring all safety protocols,’’ he said.
Kolkata and its immediate neighbourhood of North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia account for 11,672 or 83.24% of the new cases. Sixteen of the state’s 23 districts reported no death and the state’s mortality rate is 1.18%.