Bengal records 26 more deaths, highest one-day spike of 1,198 COVID-19 cases

West Bengal on Friday recorded its highest single-day spike of 1,198 COVID-19 cases, bringing the virus count to 27,109 while 26 more people succumbed to the disease, raising the death toll to 880, the health department said.

Of the new fatalities, Kolkata registered 13, followed by six in North 24 Parganas, four in Howrah and one each in Hooghly, Malda and Purba Medinipur districts, it said in a bulletin.

West Bengal now has 8,881 active cases, and 17,348 patients, including 522 on Friday, have recovered from the disease.

The metropolis which registered the highest single-day spike with 374 cases, has been recording over 300 infections since Wednesday.

Bengali actor Koel Mallick tested positive for COVID-19. Her parents and husband Nishpal Singh Rane, who is a film producer, also tested positive for the contagion. Her father Ranjit Mallick is also a veteran actor.

An officer of Entally police station also tested positive for the disease.

In the last 24 hours, 10,639 samples have been tested in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the number of broad-based containment zones in West Bengal on Friday went up to 463 after 29 more such zones are added to Thursday's list, according to a government data.

The containment zones and buffer zones around them have been clubbed to constitute a "broad-based" containment zone where total lockdown was imposed since 5 pm on Thursday.

North 24 Parganas with 2,047 active cases has 95 broad-based containment zones, the highest among the districts of West Bengal, according to information available on the state government's official website.

Places such as Dumdum, Barasat, Hashnabad, Ashokenagar, Madhyamgram, Shasan, Lake Town, Baguihati, Belghoria, Titagarh, Baranagar have been earmarked as broad-based containment zones in the district.

Howrah and South 24 Parganas districts have 56 and 54 such zones respectively, while the Kolkata city has 28.

Coochbehar district, which had no broad-based containment zones earlier, has three such places in Friday's list, while Bankura also witnessed a rise in the number of such zones from zero to 16.

Paschim Bardhaman and Jhargram currently have no broad-based containment zones.