West Bengal: No plans for lockdown, Covid cases cross 40,000
1 min read 19 Jul 2020, 08:17 AM ISTWest Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state was normalThe state government has no plans of introducing a lockdown in the state but there will be strict lockdown only in containment zones
PremiumEven as the total number of Covid-19 cases crossed the 40,000 mark in West Bengal, the state government has no plans of enforcing a lockdown across the state. "The state government has no plans of introducing a lockdown in the state but there will be strict lockdown only in containment zones. There is no plan for further lockdown," West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said.
He said the state government has also launched a helpline number for those who are undergoing home isolation. The toll-free number is 1800313444222.
The state detected 2,198 new cases, following which its active cases soared to 15,594. The total number of cases reported in the state are 40,209 including 23,539 recoveries and 1,076 deaths.
The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients stands at 58.54 per cent.
Addressing a press conference, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state was normal as "more the number of tests, more the number of cases".
"The situation in Bengal is under control. The death rate which was earlier very high has now come down to 2.7 per cent, which is very close to the national average of 2.5 per cent," he said.
Kolkata recorded its highest single-day spike with 648 new cases. The city at present has 5,155 active COVID-19 cases.
Most of the latest deaths were also reported from Kolkata where 12 people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours.
Four deaths each were reported from Hooghly and North 24 Parganas districts, and two each from South 24 Parganas and Paschim Medinipore.
One death each were recorded in Howrah, Dakshin Dinajpur and Alipurduar districts, it added.
