West Bengal logs over 23,000 Covid-19 cases, Kolkata’s daily tally dips slightly – Hindustan Times

West Bengal on Thursday reported as many as 23,467 fresh cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), taking the state tally to 18,41,052, according to the state bulletin data. Of the over 23,000 new infections, Kolkata accounted for 6,768.

Notably, Bengal’s capital city witnessed a marginal dip in the daily case count after 292 fewer infections were logged on Thursday. On the preceding day, Kolkata reported as many as 7,060 new coronavirus cases, the health bulletin data showed.

Meanwhile, fresh fatalities in the eastern state continued to maintain its upward swing after 26 people succumbed to Covid-19. On Wednesday and Tuesday, a total of 23 and 19 people died of the disease, respectively.

What offers a ray of hope is the massive number of new recoveries in Bengal. As many as 8,139 people recuperated in the state on Thursday, up from 8,117 the day before. With this, the total number of patients who recovered from the virus has surged to 16,89,514.

Also Read | ‘Be ready for other Covid variants after Omicron’: 3 things PM Modi emphasised

The continual spike in cases is driven by the emergence of Omicron variant, which has been categorised as the ‘variant of concern’ by the World Health Organization (WHO). Till now, Bengal has detected 294 cases of the new strain of Covid-19, of which, 10 have recovered. This means the state has as many as 194 active Omicron cases. It is also one of the top 10 worst-affected states in the country by the new Covid-19 variant.

The Union health ministry on Wednesday said that a total of eight states, including Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal, are emerging as the states of concern due to the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases.

West Bengal has the second-most active caseload in India with as many as 1,31,553 people suffering from Covid-19, behind only Maharashtra.