Bengal Reports 14,938 New COVID-19 Cases, 36 More Fatalities

The state had registered 19,064 new infections and 39 deaths on Saturday.

Updated on: 17 January 2022 5:20 am

COVID-19 Cases in West Bengal Saw a Spike

West Bengal’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 18,97,699 on Sunday with 14,938 fresh cases, while 36 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 20,088, a health department bulletin said. The state had registered 19,064 new infections and 39 deaths on Saturday.

Its positivity rate stood at 27.73 per cent, the bulletin said. Kolkata registered the highest number of fresh fatalities at 12, followed by five in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district and four in Howrah. The state capital logged 3,893 single-day cases.

West Bengal now has 1,60,305 active cases, and 17,17,306 people have recovered from the disease, including 9,973 since Saturday. The state has tested over 2.23 crore samples so far, taking into account 53,876 such clinical examinations in the past 24 hours, down from 64,572 samples the previous day, the bulletin added.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress and the BJP earlier in the day engaged in a war of words over COVID-19 vaccination, with the former accusing the saffron party of discrimination with non-BJP ruled states.

"Modi ji (PM Narendra Modi) is providing the full quota of vaccines to some states, but not meeting the requirements of states like Bengal,” TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee told reporters.“During the second wave, we had to procure a sizeable amount of vaccines on our own," he added.

Reacting to the remarks, BJP state spokesman Samik Bhattacharya said the TMC government does not have a proper policy to tackle with the virus, and “due to its procrastination, many in the state are awaiting the first and second doses”.

With PTI Inputs