Kolkata’s share of daily Covid cases dips with Omicron’s ‘district shift’ – Times of India

KOLKATA: The city’s share of Bengal’s Covid caseload is on a steady decline, leading a section of experts to surmise that the Omicron surge might be shifting to the districts.

On January 1, Kolkata had 53% — or more than half — the number of the state’s fresh infections; that figure is now 32%, or a shade less than a third, going by Wednesday’s figures.
On January 1, Bengal had reported 4,512 cases, of which 2,398 were from Kolkata. On that day, the share of five worst-hit districts combined — North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and West Burdwan, with a total of 1,639 cases — had been 36%. By Tuesday, Kolkata’s share was down to 28%, whereas the combined share of the five districts was up to 46%.
“According to the numbers, the city’s share of Covid cases is coming down, contrary to cases surging in some districts. This is an indication of the pandemic surge shifting to the districts,” said Diptendra Sarkar, professor of surgery and part of IPGMER’s Covid task force.
Senior physician Sukumar Mukherjee, a member of Bengal’s Global Advisory Board on Covid, felt that Kolkata was, “and, still is, the centre of the pandemic”, which was why the surge was first felt in the city. “Now, with the city already overflowing with infections, it is now fanning out to the districts.” He, however, said that these were “very initial assumptions”, and that a period of about seven days was needed to confirm the trend.