Bengal tally doubles in 12 days, crosses 7k-mark

KOLKATA: West Bengal recorded its highest daily increase in the number of Covid-19 cases on Friday, reporting more than 400 cases on a day for the first time. With the 427 cases reported on Friday, the total number of persons testing positive crossed the 7,000 mark, doubling the tally in 12 days. The national doubling rate is around 15 days.

As on Friday, the state reported 7,303 cases, with 366 persons dead and 2,912 persons discharged from hospitals. On May 24, the total number of cases stood almost half, at 3,667 cases. Reaching 3,667 cases took more than two months, with the state’s first case being reported on March 17.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the sudden spike on the migrant workers returning to the state. The state reported 2,490 cases in past seven days, a vast majority of which are migrant workers, according to the state health department.

“Our numbers remained comparatively less but recently had a spike due to many migrant workers who are coming back testing positive,” Banerjee said.

According to the chief minister, more than 8.5 lakh workers have returned from other states and nearly 2 lakh more are expected to return.

Kolkata and its neighbouring districts of Howrah and North 24-Parganas were the state’s Covid-19 epicentre until the middle of May.