Daily sample testing in Bengal peaked at 24,047 (File)
West Bengal logged the highest number of fresh coronavirus cases and virus fatalities on Wednesday. 2,816 new cases were registered on Wednesday in the state while 61 COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours. In a first, the state's North 24 Parganas raced past Kolkata and reported 709 new coronavirus cases, 44 more than the state capital.
A Trinamool Congress (TMC) Councillor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation died of coronavirus after a 12-day battle in hospital. Another TMC MLA tested positive in the South 24 Parganas as did a party MLA and her husband at Malda.
Kolkata continues to be the district with the highest number of coronavirus deaths in the state with at least 25 fatalities on Wednesday. Adjoining Howrah reported 293 new cases, while Hooghly and Malda reported 146 and 144 cases respectively.
278 patients were discharged on Wednesday, taking the discharge rate to 70.36% - the highest ever. Daily sample testing also peaked at 24,047, pushing the total number of tests to over 10 lakh for the first time. The positivity rate rose to 8.35%.
The total number of beds allotted for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the state's government hospitals stands at 11,560, of which 7,035 beds are currently vacant.
948 ICU beds are also available in the state. The health department bulletin on Wednesday put the number of ventilators at 395, three more than the number of ventilators reported on June 1.
Of the 2,566 beds in private hospitals, 431 were listed as vacant in Wednesday's health department bulletin. Of the 62 hospitals in and around Kolkata with the above tally of beds, 24 reported they did not have single vacant bed.
Meanwhile, there are 1,258 containment zones in the state. Kolkata has 40 containment zones, while North 24 Paraganas has 110, Howrah has 91, Hooghly has 42 and South 24 Parganas has 63. These are the districts which report the highest number of new cases almost regularly.
India's coronavirus count crossed 19 lakh on Wednesday after 52,509 people tested positive in the last 24 hours, while the death count increased by 857 to reach 39,795, figures from the Union Health Ministry showed. India has the third-highest coronavirus caseload in the world after the United States and Brazil.