Kolkata posts lower growth in active August Covid-19 cases than in neighbouring districts – Times of India

KOLKATA: The city has reported an increase of only 160 Covid active cases in the first 15 days of this month, lesser than South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and even Hooghly. Kolkata has 24.2% of Bengal’s 27,218 active Covid cases. On August 1, the number of active cases in Kolkata was 6,485 and on August 15, it stood at 6,645.
Active cases, experts say, give a clearer indication on how many patients require treatment and monitoring. This does not factor in patients, who have been treated and discharged from hospitals, and deaths. While Kolkata’s active Covid cases has only increased by 160 from August 1 to August 15, its total cases rose by 9,403 during the same period.

“By this time, a lot of educated people have become aware about the symptoms and hence many individuals with mild infection are keeping themselves at home isolation and monitoring oxygen saturation level without actually going for test unless symptoms are aggressive. This could also be a reason for the marginal rise in the number of active cases,” said infectious diseases control specialist Debkishore Gupta of CMRI.
According to data by state health department, in the first 15 days this month, South 24 Parganas has reported an increase of 764 active cases, North 24 Parganas an increase of 538 active Covid cases and Hooghly a rise of 306 active corona cases. Howrah, however, has also reported a dip in active Covid cases.
In June, Kolkata had reported an increase of 812 active Covid cases. In June in Bengal, active Covid cases increased by 2,640. Kolkata alone had reported a third of these cases. In July, Bengal reported a spike of 14,274 active Covid cases. Kolkata reported 4,415 of these cases. Till mid-August, Bengal reported an increase of 6,588 active Covid cases, Kolkata reported only 160.
Bengal’s active Covid cases put it behind Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The primary reason for Kolkata active cases slowing down is due to the high hospital discharge rates. From August 1 to August 15, 8,968 Covid patients have been discharged from hospitals in Kolkata. The city also reported 278 Covid deaths during this period. “No doubt that number of cases is rising in the city and may go up further because that’s the nature of the virus. But the positive thing is that morbidity and mortality are on a decline in the past few weeks due to which the number of people needing hospital care is going down,” said Basab Bijoy Sarkar, consultant internal medicine at Fortis Hospital Anandapur.
Some virologists feel that the virus arrived in the city first. Hence the city will be the first to enter the worst phase and also the first to experience the improvement.