West Bengal coroanvirus update: 61 Covid-19 deaths, 3,177 new cases

The COVID-19 toll in West Bengal rose to 4,359 on Sunday after 61 more patients succumbed to the disease, the health department said in a bulletin.

The case tally went up to 2,25,137 as 3,177 more people tested positive for the virus, it said.

The bulletin issued Sunday evening said 2,958 patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the discharge rate of the state to 87.05 per cent.

Altogether 1,95,972 people have been cured of COVID-19 so far, it said. The number of active cases is now 24,806, the bulletin said.

Of the fresh fatalities, North 24 Parganas district reported 16 followed by Kolkata (15) and Howrah and Purba Medinipur districts (six each).

The remaining deaths were registered in several other districts. Out of the 61 deaths, 50 were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental, the bulletin said.

The 3,177 new infections included 514 from Kolkata, 507 from North 24 Parganas and 219 from South 24 Parganas.

Since Saturday, 45,656 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state, taking the total number to 27,90,518.

Meanwhile, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) of the Kolkata Police, Murlidhar Sharma, tested positive for coronavirus, sources said.

City Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma has currently been in home isolation since last week after he was infected with the virus.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of South East Division of Kolkata Police, Debasmita Das, has been hospitalised for the same reason.

DCP (Headquarter) Subhankar Sinha Sarkar of the city police had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier.

He has recovered from it and resumed duty, sources said.

So far, over 3,000 police personnel of Kolkata Police have been afflicted with the disease and more than 20 have succumbed to it.

On Sunday evening, 55-year-old orthopaedic surgeon Dr Surajit Nandi (55), who was associated with state-run Vidyasagar State General Hospital in Behala area of Kolkata, died due to coronavirus, sources said.