58 people test positive for COVID-19 in West Bengal

Altogether 58 people tested positive for COVID-19 in West Bengal on Thursday, the highest spike in a day so far, taking the total number of active cases in the state to 334, a senior official here said.

Twenty-four people were discharged from hospitals after they were found to have recovered from the disease, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha told reporters at the state secretariat.

No new death due to COVID-19 was reported since Wednesday evening, he said.

Taking into account the fresh cases, the total number of people who tested positive for the disease in West Bengal stands at 452, according to the state health department.

Of them, 103 people have recovered and 15 succumbed to the disease, it said.

The Union Health Ministry, however, put the total figure in the state at 456.

In the last 24 hours, 953 samples were tested for coronavirus in West Bengal, while the total number of samples examined so far in the state has touched 7,990.

"Of these 58 fresh cases, 22 hail from a family where one person had tested positive for the disease in the past. Among the other 36, some have been reported from five areas that come under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), while the rest are mostly from Howrah, North 24 Parganas, Purba Medinipore and Hooghly districts," Sinha said.

The chief secretary, however, expressed satisfaction over the fact that the number of cases was gradually going down in the districts of Howrah, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly.

"Kolkata is a challenge for us. We are trying to formulate a special plan for Kolkata so that the disease does not spread any further. Currently, there are 150 containment zones in KMC (areas), while in Howrah the number is 60-70, North 24 Parganas 40 and Purba Midnapore five," Sinha said.

He also emphasised that most COVID-19 patients in the country are asymptomatic.

"In India, close to 70 per cent cases are asymptomatic and doctors are concerned over identification of such cases.

If the lockdown is lifted on May 4, this will be a big challenge (for us)," the chief secretary said.