Record 22 fatalities push COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal to 779

The death toll due to COVID-19 in West Bengal mounted to 779 on Monday with highest one-day spike of 22 fatalities, the health department said.

As many as 861 people have tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, taking the infection tally in the state to 22,987, the department said in its bulletin.

The number of active patients rose to 6,973, it said.

"The 22 people died due to comorbidities and COVID-19 in these cases was incidental," the department said.

A total of 524 people have been discharged from different hospitals since Sunday evening.

During the same period, 10,919 samples have been examined for COVID-19, the bulletin added.