KOLKATA: Eight more people died due to COVID-19 in West Bengal in the last 24 hours, taking the state's death toll to 143 on Thursday, the health department said.
While six deaths were reported from Kolkata, two were reported from the neighbouring Howrah district, the health department said in a bulletin.
A total of 87 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in different parts of the state during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 2,377, it stated.
Sixty-six people have been discharged from hospital since Wednesday evening, improving the state's discharge rate to 32.31 per cent, the bulletin said.
As many as 5,205 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
The number of samples examined so far in the state has climbed to 62,837.
Earlier, the state government had attributed deaths of 72 coronavirus-afflicted people to comorbidities and had said the respiratory infection in these cases was "incidental".
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Bengal stands at 1,394.
Meanwhile, a special train from New Delhi, carrying more than 1,000 passengers, arrived at the Howrah station here on Thursday, as the Railways resumed partial services amid the COVID-19-triggered lockdown.
The air-conditioned train, the first between the national capital and the city since the imposition of the lockdown, reached Howrah at noon, two hours behind the scheduled time, an Eastern Railway (ER) official said here.
All 1,060 passengers were subjected to health check-up arranged by the state before they left the station building.
Official sources said at least 40 buses were arranged by the state Transport Department to take the passengers home.
A number of app-based cabs and yellow taxis were also parked outside the station for the ones willing to hire those to reach home.
All returnees will have to undergo a 14-day home quarantine.
The Railways has started special train services between Delhi and several other cities from May 12.
Services connecting Delhi and Howrah, which began on Wednesday, will be available daily, the ER official said.
A family of four from the city, who had gone on a tour of Delhi and Agra, said it was a relief to be home.
"We were having a difficult time living in hotel rooms. Luckily, we were able to get reserved tickets," said one of them.
Heaving a sigh of relief after alighting at the station, a young man in his 20s, who hails from North 24 Parganas, said he had gone to Kanpur on work for a few days, but was left stranded for nearly two months.
"I was anxious to return home as my aged parents were having problems fending for themselves amid the lockdown," he said.