KOLKATA: West Bengal's COVID-19 tally on Wednesday climbed to 16,78,323 with 14,022 fresh cases, 4,949 more than the previous day, the health department said.
The positivity rate rose to 23.17 per cent from Tuesday's 18.96 per cent, it said.
The metropolis accounted for 6,170 new infections, followed by North 24 Parganas at 2,540 and Howrah at 1,280.
With 17 fresh fatalities, the death toll mounted to 19,827, a bulletin issued by the health department said.
The city and neighbouring North 24 Parganas district accounted for five new deaths each, it said.
West Bengal now has 33,042 active cases, while 6,438 patients were discharged since Tuesday, taking the total number of recoveries to 16,25,454, it said.
The discharge rate was at 96.85 per cent.
BCCI president and former Team India skipper Sourav Ganguly's daughter Sana, actor Parambrata Chatterjee, TMC MP Deepak Adhikari (Dev) and his actor partner Rukmini, another party MP Mimi Chakraborty, actor-turned BJP leader Rudranil Ghosh tested positive for the infection.
Nearly 300 doctors, healthcare officials and support staffers at different hospitals, including Health Services Director Dr Ajay Chakraborty, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases Director Santa Dutta and 12 others there, were found infected with the disease in the last 24 hours, an official said.
They have been sent for institutional quarantine, he said.
Several policemen of the city and the state police have also contracted the disease, an officer said.
The state has so far conducted over 2.16 crore sample tests for COVID-19, including 60,511 in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, 4,87,115 doses of COVID vaccines were administered to eligible beneficiaries on Wednesday, the official said, adding that 1,70,112 jabs were given to children in the age group of 15-18 years.
The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday said it expects that the West Bengal government will seriously consider the plea to ban the Gangasagar Mela this year owing to the severity of the spread of Covid-19 cases.
The state said it will inform the court of its decision on Thursday.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice K D Bhutia, hearing a PIL seeking that this year's Gangasagar Mela be stopped owing to the pandemic, noted the advocate general's submission that the state authorities will consider the plea and take an appropriate decision in respect of either banning the fair or taking measures to regulate the rush.
The bench said it has been assured of by the advocate general that the decision in this regard will be taken and the affidavit of the competent authority will be placed on record before the court by 2.00 pm on Thursday.
"Having regard to the severity of spreading of COVID virus, we expect that the State will seriously consider the plea to ban the Mela this year and take a decision in this regard," the bench said in its order.
The bench said that the state government, while taking a decision, should keep in view an earlier order of this court holding that life is more important in every sense in comparison to religious practices, beliefs and faith.
The court said the state should also be mindful of the possibility of the spread of the virus on account of oral and nasal droplets during the holy dip at the confluence of River Ganga and Bay of Bengal and the safety of people other than the pilgrims.
"The State will duly take into account the positivity rate of virus and fact that within the last 24 hours there is 50 per cent increase in number of cases and also the fact that large number of doctors are already infected," the court said in its order.
Seeking a direction to the state government not to hold the annual Gangasagar Mela scheduled between January 8 and 16 on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at Sagar Island, about 130 kms from Kolkata, the petitioner's counsel submitted that a large number of pilgrims gather there to take a holy dip and sometimes the footfall reaches up to 18 lakh.
He submitted that on account of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, it is not in the larger public interest to hold such a mela.
The counsel pointed out that the number of Covid cases in the state on December 29, 2021, was only 1,089, which increased to 9,073 on January 4.
Submitting that in one day from January 3 to January 4, the increase is from 6,078 to 9,073, which is about 50 per cent, he prayed that the entire Gangasagar area should be declared as notified area or containment zone.
He stated that the present positivity rate is 33.63 per cent in Kolkata and in the Gangasagar mela, almost 50 per cent police force of the state will be deployed which will expose even members of the force to the virus.
He submitted that in 2021, certain guidelines were issued to regulate the crowd in the mela when the second wave had not started, but at present West Bengal is in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic.
The counsel appearing for West Bengal Doctors' Forum, which was added as a party on the matter on its prayer, stated that not only the Omicron variant of Covid-19, but the Delta variant is also spreading and pilgrims from all over the country will come through public transport to the mela and in the process get infected and spread the virus to others.
He also submitted that the main ceremony of the mela can be held through the virtual mode.
West Bengal government on Wednesday announced postponement of the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival, scheduled to begin from January 7, as a third wave of Covid-19 pandemic hit the country and the state.
The sudden announcement, came days after KIFF organizing committee Chairman Raj Chakraborty and member Parambrata Chatterjee reported they had been infected by the Covid virus.
"After assessing the present covid situation in the State" and taking into consideration possible spread of the disease among artists and film-lovers who would throng the festival as well "the fact that a number of cine personalities attached to film festival committee have been affected by Covid," the State Government said it has decided to postpone the 27th edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival slated for 7-14 January, 2022.
The next date of the Festival will be communicated in due course, the statement issued by the state's information and culture department said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was to virtually inaugurate the film festival on January 7.
A day before, the state government had said the festival would be held in a scaled down manner at 10 venues across the city allowing cine-lovers to watch movies but subject to half the setas being kept empty.
A total of 161 films, including 46 from 41 foreign countries, were slated to be screened in 200 shows on the eight days of the film festival, Minister of State for Culture Indranil Sen had said on Tuesday.
Finland was to have been the focus country of KIFF this year with six works of contemporary Finnish directors slated to be screened.
The foreign films shortlisted to be shown included movies from Iran and Italy besides Finland, Sen had said.
The 161 films which were to be shown included 103 feature films and 58 short and documentary films.
The inaugural film would have been Satyajit Ray's classic Aranyer Din Ratri.
A KIFF official said whenever the festival takes place, at a conducive time, the package and the schedule, would remain unchanged.
Raj Chakraborty, had tweeted on January 4 that he and actor wife Subhasree Ganguly had tested Covid-19 positive.
Parambrata Chatterjee too had tweeted "had mild symptoms in Mumbai on the 27th, but had tested negative. Returned to Kolkata on the 30th. Became completely symptom-free by 2nd, but got a routine test done . (test results are ) positive."
BCCI president and former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly's daughter Sana has tested positive for Covid-19 and is in home isolation, her mother Dona Ganguly said on Wednesday.
Sana, who is asymptomatic, took the test following a "sore throat" on Tuesday and the result came out positive, said Dona who was found negative for coronavirus.
A couple of other members of the Ganguly family are also down with the virus, she said.
"Since dada (Sourav) tested positive for Covid-19, we have been taking the test every day. I am negative, but Sana tested positive for the disease," Dona told PTI when contacted.
Sourav Ganguly was hospitalised last month after having tested positive for Covid-19.
The 49-year-old was discharged from the facility on December 31 and is in home isolation.
On the health condition of her husband, Dona said he is "recovering".
Ganguly was admitted to a hospital twice last year and underwent emergency angioplasty after having some cardiac issues.
His elder brother Snehasish Ganguly had also tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020.