One-third of West Bengal’s Covid cases during Unlock 1.0

KOLKATA: For the third successive day, Bengal recorded its steepest rise in Covid cases with 449 persons testing positive.
In the first week of Unlock 1.0, Bengal has reported 2,686 Covid cases, which is 32.8% (roughly one-third) of the total cases detected in the state so far.
The state recorded its first case on March 17. On May 31, the state had reported 5,501 cases. On Sunday, after the first week of Unlock 1, this figure reached a staggering 8,187 cases. Since Monday, Bengal has recorded more than 380 positive cases per day.
Kolkata, with 633 cases this week, records the highest number of cases. Howrah is next with 390 cases since Monday and North 24 Parganas reported 363 cases. Hooghly had 293 cases and West Midnapore reported 142 cases this week — 84 among them on Sunday itself. In fact, Kolkata on Sunday reported fewer cases than West Midnapore, which registered 74 cases.
Experts who are tracking these developments also expressed their anxiety over the increasing positivity rate — the percentage of positive cases out of the samples tested in a day. According to state health department data, the positivity rate on Sunday was 3.02%. This was 2.7% on May 31. On May 27, it had come down to as low as 2.5%, the lowest so far. “This increase of positivity rate show that there has been a strong spread of the disease and it is very alarming,” said Sukumar Mukherjee, who is part of the Covid advisory team, assisting the state.
“Though the number of cases is still high in urban and semi-urban districts but with the entry of the migrant labourers the concentration will gradually shift to the districts. In the coming weeks, the districts are likely to record more cases than the cities, ” said virologist Amitava Nandi.
Though Kolkata recorded the highest number of cases last week, districts like Purulia, Darjeeling, Bankura and South Dinajpur have recorded a whooping surge in cases.
Of the total 177 cases in West Midnapore, for example, 142 cases were reported between June 1 and June 7, marking a rise of 80%. Similarly, Coochbehar recorded 90 out of 158 cases in the current week having a percentage rise of 56.9 %. In neighbouring Darjeeling 68 of the total 89 cases were registered in the first week of Unlock 1 showing a rise of 76%. Purulia, where there was a massive influx of migrant labourers recorded 56 of the total 63 cases in the first week of June with a percentage rise of 88.8%.