West Bengal recorded 1,690 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, its highest single-day spike yet, pushing the State’s tally to 36,117.

The State also recorded 23 more deaths since Wednesday evening, taking its toll to 1,023, the State Health Department said. Of the latest deaths, 12 were reported from Kolkata and seven from North 24 Parganas district.

The number of active cases in the State stands at 13,679. As many as 735 patients were discharged and 13,180 samples were tested in the past 24 hours in the State.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed concern over the State’s recovery rate dropping to 59.29%. “A few days ago, the recovery rate was over 66%. The recovery rate has now dipped because more people are getting admitted to hospitals,” Ms. Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister requested the people of the State to support the government in its battle against COVID-19. She said the State government was neither god nor does it have a magic wand. “This is not a battle of the Health Department or the police alone. Everyone has to contribute to the fight against the virus,” she said.

The Chief Minister also expressed her displeasure over people protesting over alleged poor facilities in quarantine centres. She also said government authorities are facing opposition from residents when a quarantine centre is being set up in a locality or a crematorium is used for the final rites of a COVID-19 victim.

Ms. Banerjee said if people continued to protest, “there will be no safe houses in your locality, no quarantine centres”. She said, “Crematorium are not being allowed to open for the final rites of COVID-19 victims. But what happens when you suffer from the infection?”

Ms. Banerjee also said that the Central government was not providing the State with adequate infrastructure to deal with the pandemic. “We thought will get 10,000 ventilators, oxygen beds and free drugs. But we got nothing,” she said.