Fourteen people died due to Covid-19 in Bengal in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 113. Since yesterday, 153 fresh coronavirus cases were detected, bringing the total cases to 1,939 among which 1,337 are active cases. Among those who succumbed was eminent historian Hari Shankar Vasudevan.
Vasudevan had tested positive for novel coronavirus on 6 May after being admitted with high fever and breathing difficulty symptoms on 4 May but had other chronic ailments also, his family said. He died at a private hospital in the city early on Sunday morning.
He was 68. Vasudevan, considered one of the foremost names in Russian and Central Asian history, is survived by his wife Tapati Guha Thakurta and a daughter. Ten of the 23 districts of Bengal have reported fresh cases in the last 24 hours.
These are Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, West Midnapore, West Burdwan, Jhargram, Malda and North Dinajpur. In the last week cases were recorded from a total of 14 districts. The worst affected city is Kolkata.
It is mainly because of the sharp increase in the numbers in Kolkata that Bengal’s overall graph is also rising, said an official. Overall, 948 persons tested positive in Kolkata and 126 of them died, with 74 deaths attributed to Covid-19 and 52 to co-morbidities while 208 patients from the city have recovered till now.
Across the state, a total of 417 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals. Testing of 4,046 samples, the highest in a single day so far, was conducted in the last 24 hours and a total of 43,414 samples have been tested till now.
Tests per million population is 482. Currently, testing is being conducted in 18 laboratories and another four are pending approval. A total of 5,921 people are in 582 government quarantine centres and 19,453 were released. Total 85,477 people are home quarantined with 18,458 currently in home quarantine and 67,019 released.
Meanwhile, the state government has clarified that barring a few stray incidents distribution of foodgrains through the public distribution system has been peaceful.
State home secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay told yesterday that a certain section of the middle and lower middle class people who usually did not opt for the PDS system are now lifting foodgrains from ration shops in the wake of the current lockdown situation.
Till yesterday 73 per cent of the population got their ration and around 68 per cent of the total foodgrains have been lifted. Till now, 440 dealers have been showcaused, 69 suspended, 29 penalties imposed, 51 police cases lodged and 52 arrested.