West Bengal today recorded its steepest daily jump in coronavirus cases with 476 people testing positive in the state while chief minister Mamata Banerjee yet again urged commuters to avoid overcrowding in buses and the state home department announced that additional 400 buses would ply on city roads from Monday.

Kolkata alone recorded 111 cases followed by North 24 Parganas with 99 cases and Howrah with 52 cases.

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The coronavirus case count has risen to 10,244. Nine people died due to Corona in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 451. Currently, there are 4,206 active coronavirus cases in the state.

Overcrowding in buses has turned out to be a major concern for the state administration in the wake of the sharp rise in Covid-19 cases with fresh cases being detected in almost all districts.

Taking to Twitter Miss Banerjee urged people to avoid overcrowding in buses. “I’d urge you all to avoid overcrowding on buses, request the private sector to operate from home as much as possible and allow relaxation in reporting time. We’ve ensured no one’s marked late in government offices. Visit public places only when urgent, always wear masks and stay safe!” the statement read.

“It speaks volumes about the culture and indomitable spirit of the people of Bengal, how we’ve been dealing with aftermath of the twin crisis of a natural disaster and a global pandemic. Bengal will definitely emerge stronger and united out of this. On GoWB behalf, I’d like to thank all the relief workers, police and medical fraternity and civil society organisations who’ve been at the forefront tackling the crisis. However we still need to be careful. Please follow social distancing norms and take strict care of your nutrition,” she wrote.

Monday onwards, 200 additional AC and 200 non-AC buses would run on various city roads.

The state home department tweeted: “State Government is specially mobilising 400 additional buses in greater Kolkata to facilitate commuters’ movements from Monday. Out of these, 200 will be air-conditioned as mobilised by private bus operators and permitted by the Transport Department. Another 200 will be non-A/C State buses to be mobilised by SBSTC. .These buses will connect in different routes: Howrah Station-Esplanade-BBD BagSector V areas with outlying points at Garia, Behala, Barasat, Barrackpore, etc.”

The SBSTC will run the 200 additional buses on routes such as BarasatDalhousie, Barrackpore-Dalhousie, Habra-Dalhousie, Serampore-Dalhousie, BasirhatDalhousie, Naihati-Dalhousie, Behala-Sector V, Tollygunge Metro-Sector V, Garia-Airport, Garia-Esplanade, Joka-Sector V, Ranikuthi-Sector V, Barrackpore-Sector V, Tollygunge Metro-Howrah Station, JokaHowrah Station, KamalgaziHowrah Station, SantragachiSector V, Airport-Dalhousie, Dum Dum Station-Dalhousie, Airport-Exide More and BallyHowrah Station.