KOLKATA: The cumulative weekly positivity rate of Covid-19 in Kolkata has reached 60.29 per cent, the second highest in the country, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said on Wednesday.
The same rate for the week ending January 11 for Howrah district of West Bengal is also very high - 50.89 per cent, according to the MoHFW data.
Kolkata on Wednesday accounted for 7,060 cases, 495 more than what was reported on the previous day, the state health department said in a bulletin.
Howrah district, on the other hand, reported 1361 fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.
The figure was 1815 on Tuesday.
West Bengal on Wednesday registered 22,155 fresh Covid-19 cases, 1,057 more than the previous day's count, pushing the tally to 18,17,585, the state health department bulletin said.
Twenty-three deaths due to coronavirus were reported in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 19,959.
North 24 Parganas district registered eight such deaths while Kolkata reported seven.
Two fatalities each were recorded in Howrah and Uttar Dinajpur.
One death each was reported from Paschim Bardhaman, Purba Bardhaman, South 24 Parganas and Darjeeling districts, the bulletin elaborated.
Since Tuesday, 8,117 patients recovered from the disease while the discharge rate now is 92.51 per cent.
So far, 16,81,375 people have been cured of the disease in West Bengal.
The number of active cases is 1,16,251.
At least 71,792 samples were tested in West Bengal in the past 24 hours taking the total number of such clinical examinations to 2,20,62,882.
Meanwhile, Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee and actress Swastika Mukherjee tested positive for the contagion following which they are in home isolation, health department sources confirmed.
On Wednesday, at least 4,78,026 Covid vaccine doses were administered in the state, a health department official said.
"Altogether 86,118 doses of the vaccine were administered to the 15-18 years age group besides, while 38,215 booster doses were given to those eligible for it during the day," he said.
Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary on Wednesday, vowed to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with renewed vigour, days after advocating the suspension of political programmes and religious meetings for two months.
The Diamond Harbour MP said unique initiatives and strict measures would be taken in his constituency to control the spread of the disease, beginning with a thrust on sample examination.
"On Swami Vivekananda ji's birth anniversary, with renewed energy, Diamond Harbour PC aims to fight #COVID19 by implementing unique initiatives & strict measures. 30,000 COVID tests to be done today!" Banerjee tweeted.
With Gangasagar Mela underway and civic polls to four municipal corporations slated for January 22, the TMC national general secretary's remarks on halting political programmes had raised eyebrows last week.
"Abhishek Banerjee has said that political programmes and religious gatherings should be stopped for the next two months. The TMC government, however, has a different view on the issue. So what is the official stand of the TMC? There has to be some clarity," Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya had said.
BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya had also echoed Bhattacharya.
The TMC, on its part, stated that there was no contradiction.
"Why are only civic polls in Bengal being singled out? What about the assembly elections in five states? Preparations for civic polls and Gangasagar Mela had started long back. His (Abhishek's) views will surely be taken into consideration hereon," TMC MP Sougata Roy said.
Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee on Wednesday said he tested positive for COVID-19 and was undergoing home isolation.
Sources in the health department stated that several actors and technicians here have contracted the disease.
Chatterjee had complained of uneasiness, following which his samples were examined and the disease detected, they added.
Taking to Twitter, the 59-year-old actor said, "Unfortunately, I have tested positive for COVID-19. After consulting with my doctor, I'm currently in home isolation and hoping for a speedy recovery."