Owing to the sharp spike, the positive confirmation rate in the state is now 8.27%
Meghdeep Bhattacharyya:Bengal on Tuesday logged highest number of deaths from Covid-19 during a 24-hour period at 54, cases at 2,752 and tests at 22,321 as the total count of patients stopped just short of 81,000, of whom nearly 57,000 had recovered.
The maximum deaths and tests reported previously had been 53 and 22,122, respectively, on Monday.
The earlier count of highest daily new cases had been 2,739 recorded on Sunday.
But a major positive aspect is that the mortality rate improved to 2.2 per cent from 3.42 in a month. Calcutta’s mortality rate fell from 5.88 to 3.4 per cent in the same period.
Of 1,785 deaths from the pathogen in the state till date, 1,559 (87.3 per cent) were reported as those with comorbidity by the state government. In one month, there were 1,028 deaths from Covid-19 and 968 of them were reported as comorbid.
“There are some new trends being seen in the mortality stats. For instance, the mortality of the infected in the highest age group of 75-plus improved in a month from 18.55 to 13.58 per cent. In the next age bracket (61-75), the mortality rate dropped from 11.52 to 6.84,” said a Bengal minister.
In the third age bracket of 46-60, also deemed vulnerable in Covid-19, the mortality rate improved from 4.19 to 2.43 per cent. In the 31-45 bracket, too, the mortality rate plummeted from 1 per cent to 0.52 in a month. “It is the 61-75 age bracket that saw the most deaths, in absolute numbers. Comorbidities in that age group are very common,” said the minister.
Of the 1,785 deaths, sources said, over 1,100 were reported from the 61-75 age group.
The mortality among infected males was brought down from 3.43 to 2.35. Among the infected females, it dropped from 3.41 to 1.91 per cent.
Hypertension continues to be the biggest contributor to the comorbid deaths – 21.27 per cent in males and 24.85 in females – followed by diabetes, cardiac diseases and chronic kidney disease.
The recovery rate is now 70.24 per cent, ahead of the national rate of 67.22.
The state’s total testing is over 9.78 lakh now, with 10,878 a million.
However, owing to the sharp spike in new cases, the positive confirmation rate is now 8.27 per cent. A month ago, it was 4.09.
The state reported 38.78 per cent occupancy on 11,560 beds earmarked for Covid-19 patients at 83 dedicated hospitals, besides 23.92 per cent on 6,908 beds at 106 safe homes.
