West Bengal has seen a huge increase in COVID-19 in the first week of June, continuing with the trend that had started in the last week of May. In the first seven days of June, 2,686 new cases have been reported across the state, with 449 new cases reported in a single day, on June 7.
This comes on a day the country has also seen the highest single day COVID-19 count – which was reported to be 9,983.
As per the West Bengal government bulletin of June 7, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Bengal is 8,187. Another 13 persons died in the last 24 hours in the state, which increased the total number of deaths in Bengal to 324 (added to another 72 deaths of COVID-19 patients who died due to co-morbidities).
Nationally, West Bengal now has the eight highest number of cases – Maharashtra has the highest number (85,975), followed by Tamil Nadu (31,667), Delhi (27,654), Gujarat (20,070), Rajasthan (10,599), Uttar Pradesh (10,536), Madhya Pradesh (9,401) and West Bengal (8,187).
For West Bengal, the increase in over 400 cases per day (that has continued for the past three consecutive days) is reason for worry. Shopping malls, hotels and restaurants are opening from June 8, and public transport has already been open for the past one week.
Officials cited two main reasons for this huge increase in the number of cases in Bengal. One, senior officials said that this is an indication that COVID-19 is spreading from the large number of people who are coming in from other states that have high number of COVID-19 cases. They said that the Bengal government wanted the trains bringing in people from other states to be sent gradually instead of several trains at the same time. “Due to the cyclone Amphan, a lot of manpower and infrastructure had to be used in rehabilitation work and the state was not prepared to handle the pressure of so many trains coming together,” the official said.
People coming in from other states are being taken to state-run quarantine facilities and for tests. Those testing negative are being sent home for spending 14 days of home quarantine. Those testing positive are being sent to hospitals. According to the officials, this requires stern and lengthy monitoring procedure and thus the Bengal government wanted the entire process to be slowed down.
The other reason cited by officials is the huge number of tests that Bengal is currently conducting. Till now, 2,71,074 tests have been conducted in the state, including 9,786 tests done on June 7. On an average, over 9,000 tests are being conducted daily in the state. “More samples tested means detection of more cases,” the official said.
June 7 (new cases): 449
June 6, (new cases): 435
June 5, (new cases): 427
June 4, (new cases): 368
June 3, (new cases): 340
June 2, (new cases): 396
June 1, (new cases): 271
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Total new cases from 1-8 June: 2,686
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