West Bengal COVID-19 cases top 75,000-mark; death toll rises to 1,678

Kolkata: The death toll due to COVID-19 in West Bengal rose to 1,678 on Sunday with record one-day jump of 49 fatalities, the health department said. The state also reported the highest single-day spike of 2,739 fresh cases, which pushed the tally to 75,516, the department said in a bulletin.

It said that 45 of the fresh fatalities were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental.

At least 2,213 patients have recovered from the disease since Saturday, improving the discharge rate in the state to 69.83 per cent, the department said in its bulletin.

So far, 52,730 people have recovered from the disease in West Bengal and the number of active cases currently stands at 21,108. Of the 49 fresh fatalities, Kolkata accounted for 20, the highest in the city in a day so far.

The bulletin said that 14 deaths were also reported from North 24 Parganas, seven from Howrah, two each from South 24 Parganas, Paschim Bardhaman and Malda, and one each from Paschim Medinipur and Darjeeling districts.

The city also registered 709 new cases, followed by North 24 Parganas (586), Howrah (245), Darjeeling (150), South 24 Parganas (147), Malda (99) and Hooghly (77). The remaining 582 fresh infections were reported from 16 other districts of the state, it said. As many as 21,072 samples have been examined for the disease in the last 24 hours, it said.