Kolkata: West Bengal, where coronavirus cases plunged to take a horrific turn in the aftermath of Assembly elections, is one of the most concerning hotspots in the country as of now. While COVID-19 cases in India have shown a drop over the last few days, West Bengal recorded a 34.4 per cent positivity rate in infections as of May 11. Two districts in the state – Kolkata and North 24 Parganas – contributed to one-third of the active caseload over the past 8 days.
Kolkata and its neighbouring North 24 Parganas are the worst affected districts in the state. According to the data released by the state health department, a total of 1,33,846 cases were reported in West Bengal between May 4 to May 11. The cumulative cases of these two districts are 55,337 which is nearly 41.3 per cent of the total caseloads.
The data released on May 11 shows that of the total 20,136 cases these two districts cumulatively contributed 7,971 cases which are 39.5 per cent of the total cases.
However, a week before on May 4, these two districts contributed 7,868 of the total 17,639 cases, which was 44.6 per cent of the total cases. The data itself shows that there is a slight downward curve so far as active cases in these two districts are concerned.
District-wise positivity rate in West Bengal:
The following table shows all the districts in West Bengal that have more than 10 per cent positivity rate, according to the Health Ministry website.
| District in West Bengal | Positivity Rate |
| 24 PARGANAS NORTH | 46.0% |
| KOLKATA | 43.6% |
| NADIA | 39.6% |
| PASCHIM BARDHAMAN | 37.9% |
| BIRBHUM | 36.1% |
| HOWRAH | 35.7% |
| DINAJPUR UTTAR | 35.7% |
| DARJEELING | 32.7% |
| MALDAH | 32.6% |
| JALPAIGURI | 31.9% |
| 24 PARGANAS SOUTH | 30.3% |
| DINAJPUR DAKSHIN | 28.7% |
| MEDINIPUR EAST | 28.5% |
| HOOGHLY | 27.2% |
| PURBA BARDHAMAN | 25.4% |
| MURSHIDABAD | 25.0% |
| MEDINIPUR WEST | 24.7% |
| BANKURA | 24.7% |
| KALIMPONG | 22.8% |
| PURULIA | 20.1% |
| JHARGRAM | 13.6% |
| ALIPURDUAR | 11.7% |
| COOCHBEHAR | 11.6% |
The Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal had ordered the total shutdown of malls, cinemas, restaurants and bars, gyms and parlours on May 1. The market timings have also been restricted and those travelling to the state require an RT-PCR report.
Though the restriction imposed by the government has put a leash on the unchecked spread of the viral infection, the latest bulletin shows that the number of fresh cases has crossed the 20,000-mark, taking the tally of fresh Covid cases in the state to 1,27,673.
The percentage of positive cases in respect to the samples tested is 9.3 per cent.
“During the first wave even Kolkata and North 24 Parganas have been most vulnerable. We have taken several steps to control the spread of the disease and it is yielding results. We hope to bring it around 20 per cent in the next 15 days,” a senior health department official said.
The Union Health Ministry noted that a total of 15 districts have shown a rise in coronavirus infection in the past two weeks including – Bengaluru Urban (Karnataka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu),24 Parganas North (West Bengal), Kolkata (West Bengal), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Satara (Maharashtra), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Chenalpattu (Tamil Nadu), Mysuru (Karnataka), Ernakulam (Kerala), East Godavari (Andhra Pradesh), Khordha (Odisha) and Thirvallur (Tamil Nadu).