As West Bengal braces itself to hold the remaining four phases of the Assembly polls, the state on Thursday registered a record 6,769 new Covid-19 cases and 22 deaths attributed to the virus compared to 5,892 cases and 24 deaths the previous day. The increase has taken the total active cases to 36, 981.
Of the fresh cases, Kolkata recorded the highest at 1,615. Kolkata and North 24 Paraganas are among the districts that will vote in the fifth phase on Saturday. Kolkata registered seven deaths, followed by six from North 24 Parganas, five from South 24 Paraganas and one from Howrah, Jalpaiguri, Malda and Birbhum in the last 24 hours.
The state government has now made it mandatory for passengers flying in from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana to carry a negative RT-PCR report, not more than 72 hours old.
Doctors appealed to the Election Commission to “put people before power” by clubbing the rest of the poll phases. “Damage limitation is overdue, stop this plunder,” tweeted senior cardiac surgeon Kunal Sarkar.
The state has recorded total 6,36,885 Covid-19 positive cases while the toll stands at 10,480.
The discharge rate has worsened to 92.55 per cent. Nearly 35 per cent of Covid beds are occupied in Bengal. Nearly 10,000 people across the state are in home quarantine.
