Highest single-day spike of 344 cases takes total to 4,536 in Bengal; death toll 223

 West Bengal recorded the biggest single-day spike of 344 COVID-19 cases on Thursday which took the total tally to 4,536, while the death toll rose to 223 with six more fatalities in the last 24 hours, a state health department bulletin stated. Of the six fatalities, three were reported in Kolkata, two in Hooghly and one in North 24 Parganas districts. The number of active cases in the state stood at 2,573, it said.

The highest number of new cases were reported in Kolkata (87), followed by Howrah (55) and North 24 Parganas (49) districts, the bulletin stated.

North Dinajpur recorded its biggest single-day spike till date with 46 new cases. Other northern districts like Malda saw nine new cases while one each was reported in Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling.

Twenty-seven cases were reported in Birbhum, 16 in East Burdwan, 15 in Nadia, 10 in South 24 Parganas, eight in East Midnapore, seven in Murshidabad, four in Bankura three in Hooghly and one each in West Burdwan and West Midnapore districts, the bulletin said.

Two persons hailing from outside the state also tested positive for COVID-19 while the residential addresses of two other patients are yet to be ascertained, it said.

A senior health official attributed the sudden rise in the number of active cases to the increasing number of migrant workers returning to the state.

"Most of the labourers are coming from states which have a high number of COVID-19 cases. We don't know in which condition they were staying in those states. They have been released by administrations of those states without proper diagnosis.

"We are conducting massive testing which is the reason behind the rise in the numbers of confirmed cases," the official told PTI.

According to the bulletin, a total of 90 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours after they tested negative for the disease, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 1,668.

At least 9,256 samples were tested for the since Wednesday evening. With this, 1,75,769 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the state so far.

The bulletin stated that the deaths of 72 other COVID-19 patients were due to comorbidities and novel coronavirus was "incidental" in their cases.