Highest single-day spike of 624 COVID-19 cases in West Bengal; 14 more die

KOLKATA: West Bengal recorded the highest single-day spike of 624 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the state's tally to 17,907, while 14 more people succumbed to the disease raising the death toll to 653, a health bulletin said.

Thirteen, out of the 14 deceased, died due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental, it said.

Six of the deaths were reported from Kolkata, three from Howrah, two from North 24 Parganas and one each from South 24 Parganas, Paschim Medinipore and Hooghly districts.

Of the 624 fresh infections, 180 were from the city, followed by 121 in North 24 Parganas, 95 in Howrah, 76 in South 24 Parganas and 38 in Hooghly.

The remaining 114 were reported from 13 other districts.

The state broke its own record of the highest single-day spike of 572 cases set on Sunday.

Of them, 171 were reported from Kolkata.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the number of infections were consistently highest in Kolkata as COVID-19 patients from all over the state are getting treated at different hospitals here.

"Hospitals here admit patients not only from Kolkata but also from other districts. In the bulletin, these patients are shown as those belonging to the city and not from their respective districts," Banerjee said at the state secretariat.

The number of active cases is now 5,535, according to the bulletin.

Since Sunday, 526 patients were discharged from different hospitals in the state after they recovered from the disease.

During the same period, 9,513 samples have been tested in the state.