KOLKATA:
Bengal’s active
Covid cases is at an 85-day low after it reported less than 3,000 new Covid cases on Monday and Tuesday.
Health experts said there is a considerable dip in number of
positive cases but cautioned that with the winter on its way, there could be a second wave ahead around December end and January.
Bengal’s active Covid cases on Tuesday was 23,750. On September 14, the figure was lower than this at 23,693.
While the number of
daily tests has been constantly above 40,000 on most days, the number dropped to 31,453 on Monday. On Tuesday, however, 44,230 tests were done. The case positivity rate — number of people testing positive compared to the total tests done — remained at 8.1%.
Health department officials said the some labs are being given rotation rest for maintenance work on weekends, leading to the drop in the test numbers. On Monday, there were 2,214 positive cases. On Tuesday, however, 2,941 positive cases were reported. This was the third time in nine days when the number of new cases has slipped below the 3,000 daily new-case mark.
“There is an impressive drop in the number of positive cases. But once the mercury starts dipping, there is a possibility the virus may become more active to cause a second wave. We need to be on the watch,” said microbiologist Bhaskar Narayan Chaudhury of Peerless Hospital.
“Apart from the data, what we are observing is easier availability of Covid beds, including ICU in hospitals. This shows the Covid burden is on the decline and that is a good sign,” said infectious diseases control specialist Debkishore Gupta of CMRI Hospital.
The December first week has logged lower number of Covid positive cases in the state than the first week of two previous months. The state reported a total of 21,570 positive cases from December 1 to 7 against 27,730 cases in November during the same period. The number of tests, however, was lower by around 18,000 in December first week compared to the first week of November.
Between October 1 and 7, Bengal recorded 23,450 positive cases while 21,087 cases were recorded in the first week of September. Despite the apprehension for a sharp spike post
Durga Puja and Diwali, the number of cases have not shot up.
Number of deaths, too, is on the downswing. December first week recorded 347 deaths across the state while the corresponding Covid deaths for the same period in November, October and September were 394, 418 and 392 respectively.
“In the beginning of the pandemic, doctors were almost in the dark about the virus. Now with time, experience and more knowledge about the virus, healthcare professionals are more equipped to handle critical patients. As a result, mortality rate is definitely improving. But despite all awareness, a good number of patients continue to come to hospital only after they start feeling respiratory distress and this should be avoided,” said a senior health department official.
Experts said reasons for number of cases going down could include that many in the community already infected, the infected preferring to stay on home isolation without confirmatory test and deploying of larger number of
RAT than
RT-PCR tests.