West Bengal: 833 new Covid cases, experts blame ‘puja mob’

West Bengal reported 833 new COVID-19 Cases and 14 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total caseload to 15,83,646 and the toll to 19,021.

The state recorded a positivity rate of 2.52 per cent on Wednesday, up from 2.43 per cent a day earlier.

While active cases in the state stood at 7,535 on Thursday, Kolkata topped the caseload in the last 24 hours at 232, followed by North 24 Parganas at 143. North 24 Parganas, however, topped the death count in the last 24 hours at 7. After this Kolkata is at 5.

According to health department sources, a significant chunk of Kolkata’s fresh Covid cases are those who have already received the second dose of Covid vaccine. However, it is understood that most of these fresh Covid cases are asymptomatic. Atin Ghosh, member of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s board of administrators, said, “It was observed that a large number of people did not follow the Covid-19 norms during Durga Puja.

He was not wearing a mask while going to the pandals. He was careless in his approach. In view of the rise in Covid cases in the city, the holidays of all civic body officials were cancelled. However, we are relieved that the numbers have not risen to the point we had anticipated. Still, we will have to wait till next Tuesday, before a clear picture emerges on the rise in cases after Durga Puja.

Experts attributed the spike in cases in the state capital to the throngs of fun-loving puja pandals.

Meanwhile, the overall recovery rate stood at 98.32 per cent with 775 more patients being discharged in the last 24 hours, according to a bulletin issued by the state health department. The fresh recovery took the cumulative figure to 15,57,090.

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