Active Covid-19 cases in Kolkata at 3-month low – Times of India

Kolkata News
KOLKATA: For the first time in nearly three months, the number of Covid patients under treatment in Kolkata fell below the 5,000 mark even as the statewide tally of active cases hit a 19-week low. While recognizing that the data indicated steady progress in the state’s fight against the pandemic, doctors have cautioned that there is no room for complacency and called for more RT-PCR tests to prevent any slippage.
On Tuesday, Kolkata recorded 503 new cases, taking the tally of active cases to 4,930. The last time the number of people who had tested Covid-positive and requiring medical attention was below 5,000 was on September 27 when there were 4,944 active cases. In the entire state, active cases stood at 20,663 on Tuesday, the best figures since August 1, when there were 20,631 active cases.

On Tuesday, 2,289 new Covid cases were detected in Bengal, of which 503 were in Kolkata. The last date when the state had added only around these many fresh cases was on July 29, when 2,294 people had tested positive. In Kolkata, 524 fresh cases had been recorded on July 14, after which the count has zoomed.
Though lower fresh cases have been recorded on Mondays owing to decline in weekend tests, doctors said it was still heartening to see the numbers gradually decline.
The Covid data released by the state actually illustrates the improvement even this month. The total number of Covid positive cases in the second week of December was down to 17,855, down from 21,570 recorded in the first week. The number of the two week’s combined tally of 39,425 is also less than that of the first two of weeks of November, October and September, when 54,834, 48,643 and 43,143 Covid positive cases were registered, respectively.
Health experts also see a slight a drop in infection rate. However, they remain wary of the extensive use of rapid antigen test in the state and fear mild positive cases may not find reflection in the Covid bulletin.
“Daily cases have come down and recovery rate has improved impressively. But the infection rate is still high. Our target is to drag the positivity rate below 5% and mortality rate below 1%. For this, we need to scale up testing further deploying more RT-PCR than antigen tests. Currently RT-PCR versus antigen tests in our state is 55% and 45%. Antigen tests should be reduced to 25%,” said senior physician Sukumar Mukherjee, who is also in the state’s global advisory board on Covid-19.
Despite a overall gradual fall, positivity rate is still slightly above 8%. In Kolkata, the number of positive cases in the first two weeks of December was 9,912 against that of 12,048 and 10,270 cases in November and October, respectively.
“The positivity rate has definitely come down given by the fact the now Covid beds are easily available in private hospitals. But the question remains are we missing too many cases due to extensive use of antigen tests, especially in the districts? We should also be seeing that there is a parity in testing,” said infectious diseases control specialist Debkishore Gupta of Ruby General Hospital.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/active-cov-cases-in-kol-at-3-month-low/articleshow/79746359.cms