West Bengal on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, registered 38 deaths due to COVID-19 infection in the past 24 hours. Even as the case positivity ratio in the State has dropped in the past few days, the high number of deaths is a reason of concern. The State has been recording about 30 deaths over the past few days but on Wednesday it recorded the highest deaths in the third wave of the pandemic.
Kolkata recorded 14 deaths, followed by eight in North 24 Parganas and three each in Howrah and Hooghly districts.
The State registered 11,447 cases in the past 24 hours and the case positivity dropped to 16.98%. Till a few days ago, the State was recording more than 20,000 new infections and the case positivity rate was above 30 %. The active cases in the State is about 1,51,702.
Experts said that the increased number of deaths is reflective of the situation a few days ago when the State was recording more than 20,000 infections. The numbers of deaths are likely to decrease over the next few days. The fatality ratein the State remains at 1.05%.
Meanwhile, even as the State is grappling with the pandemic, the Opposition has underlined the issue of low testing. On January 12, the State tested 71, 792 samples which dropped to 53,824 on January 18. On January 19, it increased to 67,404.
