West Bengal saw a record number of Covid-19 related deaths, of 157 persons; breaching the previous high of 147 deaths.

On the other hand, fresh discharges (or recoveries) exceeded new Covid infections for the second time this week. The state witnessed 19,006 fresh infections, a reduction on a 24 hour basis; while discharges shot up to 19151.

A further dip in the test positivity ratio was also seen, as the positivity rate stood at a little over 27 per cent. The drop came as the state ramped up testing to 70,000.

Test Positivity Rate

Test positivity rate indicates the number of people infected per 100 tests. As on Wednesday, 27 out of every 100 people being tested were positive.

Positivity rate in the state had shot up to nearly 33 per cent as fresh cases (on a 24 hr basis) had breached the 20000 mark. This coupled with increasing pressure on the already stretched health infra had forced the state government to announce a complete lockdown.

Amongst the districts, the state capital of Kolkata, Paschim Medinipur, Nadia, Birbhum and South 24 Parganas, along with a few others reported high recoveries (discharges exceeding fresh infections).

Kolkata, however, saw a slight drop in fresh infections on a 24-hour basis to 3,618, according to state health department's daily bulletin. On Tuesday the city had reported 3,785 fresh Covid cases.

Compared to the earlier week, the growth of new infections in districts like Howrah, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas seem to head downwards.

Fresh infection across all the three districts stand anywhere between 950 and 1,200, at present. At one point, these districts were reporting approximately 1,200 fresh cases each.

North 24 Parganas, the district neighbouring the state capital, is the worst hit. Fresh infections here continue to hover around 4,200, while it reports the highest number of deaths . On Wednesday, the district saw 4,177 fresh infections and 48 Covid deaths.

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