West Bengal recorded 112 cases of COVID-19 infection on Wednesday, taking the number to 1,456. Four more deaths were reported in the past 24 hours taking the number to 144 of which 72 are due to co-morbidities. So far 265 patients have been discharged. The State government conducted 2,570 tests in the past 24 hours and the number of samples tested so far is 30,141.

During the day, the State government also came up with an updated list of containment zones, where the number of quarantine centres has increased to 555. The zones in Kolkata increased from 312 to 334 and in the South 24 Parganas district from one to 22. No activity has been permitted in the zones from where cases have surfaced.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Medical College here has been upgraded to a full-fledged tertiary-level COVID-19 hospital. “The facility will start with 500 beds [for both COVID-19 and SARI] which would be scaled up as per need, in phases. This will be the 68th dedicated COVID-19 hospital of West Bengal,” she said.

Board of administrators for Kolkata Muncipal Corporation

The government appointed a Board of Administrators (BoA) to supervise the functioning of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) as the five-year term of its elected members will end on Thursday. The development has been necessitated as the State Election Commission has deferred civic body elections due to the pandemic.

On expected lines, Mayor Firhad Hakim has been made the Chairman and will be assisted by Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh and a dozen Trinamool Congress councillors. “The Commission agrees with the government that the situation is not conducive to hold elections,” the notification said.